The Invitation
by Cyrus559
Summary: A story for Halloween. Eri, Yuka and Ayumi are staying at an old villa Yuka inherited from her late grandfather, and while waiting for Kagome to join them they play a game to pass the time. But their choice of game might not be the innocent fun they first thought it would be...
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, I am sorry that it has been such a long time since last I posted something here, but I have partly been busy collaborating with Sleeiping Moon's story called "The Time Traveler's Pharaoh". It is a crossover between Inu Yasha and Ouke no Monshou, and I hope you will read it (it is fully possible to follow the story without knowing Ouke no Monshou as it start at the beginning of said manga which is set in ancient Egypt).**

 **This story however will be my contribution to Halloween. It will be somewhat shorter than my usual stories but I hope you will like it nevertheless.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha.**

 **The invitation**

 **Prologue**

Kagome was driving through the worst weather she could remember ever to have encountered, and then she could count storms from both the feudal and modern era. Her car wasn't old so she felt relatively safe where she sat, but the rain that poured down on the window made it hard to see outside, no matter how fast the windshield wiper cleaned it. The headlights could also only penetrate so far into the darkness because of the heavy rain, obscuring the vision dangerously much. That she was driving through the mountainous countryside with no artificial lighting along the road didn't exactly help improve the situation either. On her left side of the road did the mountain climb high and steep through the dense forest, while it plunged down on her right side to a flooded river far below which was being fed by many a tiny stream. Said streams had been transformed into roaring rivers that some placed spilled its cold element over the road, forcing her to slow down and drive very carefully through the muddy water.

Her old friends had called her mom on one of the rare days when Kagome happened to be visiting home, asking about her whereabouts or if any of her old "illnesses" had taken her away. She wasn't sure whether she should have laughed or sighed when Ayumi's surprised voice realized who was answering the phone, but in the end, Kagome had to confess for herself that it had been nice to speak with one of her old friends again… if it hadn't been for the unexpected invitation to join them on a sleep over at Yuka's summer house. The girl had been so lucky to inherit the villa when her grandfather had died last year, being his favorite (and to Kagome's knowledge, the only) granddaughter. Kagome knew the road to the house well, because when they had been younger all four of them had spent several summers there, exploring the forest and gone on adventures that only children could do. This and no small amount of guilt tripping ending with the words "you are coming even if it the last thing you do!", had finally convinced Kagome to travel out there to see them again.

It was late evening and a curtain of darkness had been drawn over the nature, so thick and dark it seemed press against the windows on her car, scratching to come in along with the rain. With both hands on the wheel and her eyes fixed on the dark road, Kagome was so focused on the road that she almost missed the presence of something else that moved outside the car. A terrible curse she picked up from her husband escaped her lips when a dark shadow suddenly came running out from the woods above and stopped on the middle of the road. Kagome jumped hard on the break to avoid a collision.

The sound of shrieking wheels filled her ears as the car tried to stop, but the wet asphalt made the vehicle slide sideways forwards at a dangerous speed before it finally stopped.

"Hey! Watch where you are running you stupid freaking creature, the road is for cars not animals!" Kagome shouted, not in the mood for having an accident in this weather. "Move!"

But whatever creature it was, it didn't move. Instead it stood completely stood still, just so far away from the car that the heavy rain prevented her from seeing more than a scant silhouette that shone from the water that flowed down its body. After standing completely still for an unknown length of time it suddenly tilted its head and she got an unpleasant feeling that the creature was inspecting her. "Please, move," Kagome repeated, more softly this time, "My friends are waiting and I need to be on my way."

The rain-soaked figure took a few cautious steps towards her as if pounding on whether it should approach her or not.

Kagome groaned, the rain poured down and hit the car like bullets and she did certainly NOT want to go out there and chase it away. Therefore, with her foot still on the break, Kagome let her other foot push down the gas, making the car roar like a mighty beast. The effect was instant! The animal twisted sideways and ran over to the other side of the road from where it quickly disappeared down the hill and into the looming forest.

"Jeez, one would have thought that every animal had found a shelter by now instead of walking out in the rain!" Kagome sighed and started to drive again, but for some reason she couldn't shake off the ominous feeling she had felt when the creature stared at her, leaving her wonder what it could have been.

The mountains and forest continued to pass her as she drove, never meeting another car along the road but fortunately no more animals either. But suddenly all of her senses screamed to her that something was wrong and she hit the brakes again. At first it was barely noticeable, but as if coming from a distance there was a deep rumbling sound that got louder until it made her entire car shake. "What was that?" Kagome gasped and hurried to turn off the radio to listen while her eyes stared intensely through the front window, but as soon as the sound had started, it also stopped

She waited for several agonizing minutes to pass until she dared to move again, and now at such a slow speed that a jogger wouldn't have any problem of keeping up with her. Eerie minutes in silence followed as Kagome listened for more and tried to guess what it could have been, " _It can't be thunder, it is way too cold outside, nobody is riding a motorbike in this weather and it wasn't my car either,_ " she thought.

Then it happened.

In front of her, an entire tree came crashing down over the road from the hill above, uprooting completely and making Kagome do another emergency break to avoid a collision. Branches and splinters flew through the air as it made impact with a sickening crash, blocking the road from one side to the other. She could neither see the top or bottom of the tree as both ends were hidden away inside the forest on both sides of the road.

"Nononono!" Kagome yelled within her car. The trunk itself was so enormous that if you didn't have a chainsaw or name was Inu Yasha, there was no way to remove it. *Sigh* "I guess I should call the girls and give them the bad news, I am sure they will understand" she said to herself and was about to pick up the cellphone when the car began to shake as the rumbling sound came back, but this time a thousand times louder. She turned her head to look at the source… and screamed.

Unfortunately, no one ever heard her cry as the huge landslide came crashing down the hill on its way towards the bottom, sweeping away trees, bushes, boulders and the road, including Kagome's car in a flood of mud.

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 **Please, leave a review and tell me what you think so far^^**


	2. Part two

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha**

 **The invitation**

 **Part two**

The world looked grey sad when Eri let out a sigh and left the window after having been staring at the rain for an uncounted amount of time. "Shouldn't Kagome have been here by now?" she asked her two friends, sounding concerned. "It has been hours since last time she called and the drive doesn't take this long!"

Ayumi and Yuka were sitting in the dark around the table in what was usually a cozy living room, but the storm had cut the power an hour ago and since then there had been no electrical light, TV, internet or phone. Yuka's summerhouse was an old villa she had inherited by her late grandfather and was rather grand and old. His father again, her great-grandfather had built it at the beginning of the last century after having made a fortune in the USA during the first world war when their countries had been strategic allies. Coming back with many new ideas, he had constructed the house too appear like a traditional Japanese villa on the outside, but being modern and western inspired on the inside. But what had been modern a hundred years ago was now antiqued and mesmerizing for the youth who was waiting for their friend.

"I guess the bad weather must have delayed her," Yuka replied, looking at a sad candle that was lighting up the table. "It can't be easy driving in this weather. Maybe Kagome had to turn around and drive home or suffered a flat tire… Perhaps I shouldn't have been so insisting about having her to visit us?"

"No," Eri replied looking at Yuka, "She has been neglecting us since she married and moved to The States with her boyfriend. She never calls or write, it is like we doesn't exist anymore, and after all we did for her back when she was so ill! It is time for her to remember her friends again. "

Ayumi sighed, "With her record of illness, I am surprised she even is allowed to drive. I never even knew she had a license, and people usually brags loudly when they finally have it."

"Maybe she had to wait so long that she was too embarrassed to tell us when she got it?" Yuka suggested, "Everyone in class was boasting when they got it as soon as they were old enough."

"Except from Kagome who never told us anything. What time is it?" Eri asked and saw Yuka sweep her flashlight towards the old clock on the wall.

"It is exactly nine pm and Kagome should have been here an hour ago," Yuka informed her friend. "And we can't go to bed before she arrives either, are anyone up for another game of ludo?" she asked, referring to the board game they been playing for the last hour.

"No thanks!" both Eri and Ayumi answered simultaneously, being bored to death by the slow game.

"Okay, maybe something else… Oh wait, I got an idea. Hang on for a minute and I will be back!" Yuka grinned and left the room in a hurry. Eri and Ayumi waited in silence as they listened to the footsteps coming from the floor above where Yuka kept her grandfather's old board games. A muted yet triumphant yell soon followed before light footsteps tripped across the ceiling. Then a door slammed shut and a minute later they could see the light beam from Yuka's flashlight enter the room, moments before they young woman herself walked in. Pressed tightly between her side and her free arm was a large and flat box that neither of them had seen before.

"Ta-da! Look what I found!"

"What is it?" Eri asked as the object was laid in front of them on the table.

"It is an Ouija board! Grandfather was a spiritualist and believed in this sort of things!"

Eri gave her friend a look of pure disbelief, "But you don't, do you? It is just a hoax you know! There are no such things as ghost or spirits of dead people!"

Yuka was about to answer but was beaten by Ayumi who in contrast to Eri was in awe. "Wow, how can it be that we never saw this when we were younger? This looks so cool!"

"I am not sure, but knowing grandpa right, he must have thought it was too dangerous for small girls to indulge in the world of the supernatural… But he isn't here now… or…?" Yuka gave her friends a smug smile. "Maybe we should try to call upon him and ask?"

Aymui let out a positive squeal and Eri facepalmed, "You seriously don't believe this crazy stuff Yuka, do you?" she groaned and watched her friend though the dim light.

"Of course not, but I thought it could be fun to try. We don't exactly have much else to do while we wait for Kagome. Unless you are up for a game of chess though."

"Come on Eri, don't be such a scary-cat, let us try it," Ayumi cheered and pulled the infamous board out from its black box. "If you don't believe in this stuff, what harm do you think this can do then? Give you nightmares?"

Eri let her hand glide through her short hair and took a deep breath, listening to the rain outside while her friends stared back with puppy eyes. "Alright," she surrendered, "Read the rules and see if you are able to get contact with your grandfather, but if you don't succeed, I want the candies you are hiding under your pillow!"

"What! How do you know I have…!" Yuka spluttered but didn't finish and turned instead to Ayumi who was busy reading the rules. "Did you tell her?"

"Nope, I didn't, but now as Eri know where you hide our goodies you better be careful! As for the rules it is quite simple, all we have to do is to place our fingers on this wooden planchette here!" she said, holding up the object in her hand," And ask questions to the spirits. They will then guide the planchette over the alphabet on the board, letter by letter while we record each of them until we get our answer. Sounds easy or what? Do everyone remember the Latin alphabet?"

Yuka and Eri gave her a positive nod.

"Any other rules?" Yuka asked.

"Well, when playing you shall:  
1) Always keep your finger on the planchette.  
2) Always keep focus on the one you wish to contact.  
3) Always say goodbye after a séance.

"Isn't there a horror movie with copyright on those rules?" Eri said sarcastically.

"Oh, come on, they are all standard rules, you will find them printed on every Oujia board in existence!" Yuka huffed.

Ayumi laid out the board and Eri came to sit down beside her in the sofa. Yuka on the other hand found her place in the comfy armchair that faced them in the opposite direction. Yuka looked at the board for the first time in many years and was surprised to learn it was made out of real wood and not plastic as she always had thought. The board itself was big enough to take up almost one third of the table with beautiful carved Latin letters decorating most of the plate, stretching in two rows from one side of the board to the other. At the top corner on each side were the words _yes_ and _no_ written, and at the bottom underneath alphabet did the word _Good bye_ conclude the game. Surprisingly though, the board itself gave off a rather stale scent that reminded her of damp soil, making Yuka wrinkle her nose in disgust and wonder where her grandfather could have used it to catch such a stench. But she decided not to dwell on it, remembering fondly how she used to spy on her grandfather and his comrades when they played late at night when they thought she was fast asleep. They had laughed and told each other stories of people they once had knew and it seemed like fun, making her wish to experience the same with her friends.

The world had seemed so much brighter back then, it had been her, Ayumi, Eri and Kagome all the time, playing together, gossiping, shopping and doing homework together. Having been friends since elementary school, they knew pretty much everything about each other, their likes, dislikes, sorrows and joys. They said they always would be friends. But at one point, something started to happened with their friendship. It must had begun in their teenage years when Kagome suddenly fell ill.

At first they thought it had been an ordinary sickness, but Kagome's family had refused them to let them see her, saying it wasn't necessary, something which never had happened before. Then it was the strange and sometimes outrageous illnesses she came down with, but never seemed to ail her when she at irregular intervals showed up at school. Yuka, never tried to press Kagome on the topic, but the bruises and scars that started to appear on her skin made her doubt they were being told the whole truth. Curiously enough did she meet her boyfriend and later husband at approximately the same time, and they who always had shared everything were only been told tiny bits and pieces about their relationship. Heck! Yuka could on one hand count all the times she had met him!

However, just as sudden as her mysterious illnesses had begun, they stopped, and for three years Kagome was never sick one day until she abruptly left without a goodbye.

Her gaze wandered over the candle-lit table and stopped at a small black leather bag that had followed the board. "Hmm, I wonder…" Yuka mused and reached out to pick it up. She stuck her hand inside it and…

"Outch!"

…withdrew it when she stuck her finger on something sharp.

"What is it?" Eri asked and turned her head.

"See what I found!" Yuka said and pulled out a tiny object that neither Eri or Ayumi could identify. "Grandpa's lucky shard!" she smiled and held up a small sparkling piece of pinkish crystal with fresh blood. "I remember he always used this when he was communicating with the dead! Whenever his friends asked why he was a master of Oujia he said it was because of this!"

"Yeh, right!" Eri mumbled, rolling her eyes. "And who shall we contact that might give us an answer?"

"Oh, we will just try to contact Yuka's grandfather," Ayumi chirped. "He was a very kind man. Besides, Kagome will probably be here very soon, and if something comes up she will probably know what to do. After all, having grown up in a shrine, spirits and gods are sort of her department!"

Both Yuka and Eri chuckled upon hearing this and Eri felt her mood improve, of all of them, Ayumi was the one who had changed the least, always the optimist.

They lit a few more candles as the late autumn day turned into night, strangling the last of the daylight while the howling wind created a tortured melody that echoed through the landscape. But none of the women felt threatened by the grim night once the room was bright enough, unconcerned they put their hands on the planchette and began the seance. And being the most open-minded of them, Ayumi acted as the self-appointed "leader", closed her eyes and began chanting.

"Spirits spirits I call to thee, will you please answer me?"

Ayumi didn't say anything more than that, opting instead to let the silence speak for her while they waited for anything to happen.

The silence that followed was longer than expected though, but then again, none of them knew how long it would take before they got an answer.

After a while did Ayumi finally opened her eyes again, "Shouldn't anything have happened by now?"

Eri sighed, not believing in this nonsense but wanted to be a friendly helper nevertheless, "Maybe if we try again, we…" the words suddenly got stuck in her throat when the candle lights started to flicker and a cold, unseen force, made the temperature drop in the room. Then, as if a bony hand had grasped their shivering hands, the planchette suddenly started to move.

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 **Please, leave a review and keep me motivated, I am curious to know what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha**

 **The Invitation. Part three**

"What! Is this any of you guys?" Eri asked bewildered, looking both perplexed and suspiciously at her two friends.

"No!" both answered and stared at each other.

"It must be the ghost! Hurry up and ask, who are taking notes?" Ayumi gasped

"I will do it!" Yuka said, having put her left hand on the planchette and therefore happened to have her writing hand free.

"It is pulling towards H!"

"Got it!"

"The letter E!"

"l"

"It stops?" Ayumi asked.

"No, it is moving again, it goes to… O"

"It says Hello!"

Both Yuka and Ayumi sounded excited by this, but Eri felt more reserved and eyed her friends with an elevated eyebrow, "Are you sure that one of you aren't pushing it?"

"I am not doing it!" Yuka answered and removed her fingers from the planchette.

"Not me either!" Ayumi followed, removing her fingers as well, leaving only Eri with her fingers left on the object.

The breathless moment that followed left all of them staring intensely at Eri's hand, neither of them dared to blink in fear of missing something important as the seconds crawled by. However, nothing more happened, the planchette under Eri's fingers didn't move an inch! But even though the young women's eyes stared at the occult object as in a trance, their minds became weary until the point where their thoughts began to wander.

Ayumi's first thoughts had been one of excitement, sincerely believing that it truly was more between the heaven and earth than what the eye could tell, but the initial excitement gradually turned into suspicion and disbelief when nothing happened. Had it been one of her friends who had done it? She already knew that Eri held no belief whatsoever, neither gods nor ghosts existed as far that woman was concerned. Ayumi lifted her eyes and let them follow the hand that was touching the planchette up to Eri's face, had she done it on purpose to make fun of her perhaps? Or was it Yuka who had played a trick on them? Her eyes left Eri and started instead to study the room around them. The room was dark and mostly colorless, the pale shimmering lights from the many candles could only lit up their immediate surroundings, everything else were left in inky shadows which danced an eerie, soundless dance on the wall to the flickering light. It was in times like this she wished she had a strong, caring and fearless man she could take refuge at. One to hold her tight and whisper beautiful words into her ears. But the one she always had longed for had only eyes for Kagome. Hojo could be said to be the man of every woman's dreams with his kind and gentle soul, one who always was there for you… if your name was Kagome. Despite Ayumi's subtle and tentative approach, he never showed any real romantic interest in her, it was always Kagome. If Kagome had returned Hojo's feelings, Ayumi would have been happy on Kagome's behalf, but Kagome didn't! Instead she let him linger in limbo, never completely accepting him, but never fully turning him down either. Many times she found herself wishing Kagome could have made up her mind, she already had another boyfriend and if she had told Hojo so, then maybe he would have noticed her attraction to him and dated her instead. It came as a sudden surprise to all of them to learn that not only had Kagome married once she left school, but also moved to America! Poor Hojo had been so confused and in denial that he left as well, going to the states on a wild goose hunt for his love. He still hadn't returned.

The candle lights suddenly began flickering desperately, clinging to their fragile life when a powerful wind found its way inside through many hidden cracks and shook the house. Outside it blew through the woods, and Ayumi could hear the wind moan like a chorus of hungry wolves, making her immensely happy that she was inside.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I knew it. It was one of you," Eri said accusingly, looking suspicious at her friends.

"No. We didn't move that thing," Yuka replied, "At least not I. Maybe it was you altogether!" She stared back at Eri, neither of them was prone to cheating, but after having waited for Kagome so long, she felt tired and didn't want an accusation hanging over her.

"Stupid, why would I…"Eri's words came abruptly to a halt when the piece of wood started moving under her fingers, and this time at a much faster speed! In Yuka and Ayumi's eyes, Eri's face morphed into one of surprise and horror as her hand followed the planchette over the Oujia board.

"I..i..it isn't me!" she stuttered as the wooden object moved her hand across the table, passing the letters so fast that it was hard to tell which of them it wanted them to spell.

"Are you…" Yuka asked cautiously.

"Write it down!" Eri nearly shouted in panic, making Yuka grab her notes without further question and wrote down the words the planchette rolled over.

*…I-L-L-Y-O-U-…-N-V-I-T-E-M-E-I-N*

"What does it spell?" Eri asked when it suddenly stopped again.

"Will you invite me in?"Ayumi answered, hanging over Yuka's shoulder, looking both excited and cautious at the same time.

Eri felt a wave of conflicting emotions wash through her, unless Yuka had a remote control for this, it couldn't be her, and since Ayumi didn't have the skills to pull off something like this, the alternative was at its core, frightening to her. And for a brief second, her head tuned out the storm outside while feeling of dread crept into her like cold ice. "No way!" she said whispered "I am not going to invite any dead freak inside. It is scary enough now as it is without this nons…!"

 ***CRACK!***

" **Iiiiiiaaaaaiiiikkk!"**

Flaring through the air, the massive bolt of lightning killed her words and lit up the entire room with an intense bluish-white light, shaking the building and scared all of them to scream and jump in their seats. For a short moment, everything in the room became visible for their eyes while the sound blast drowned their screams.

"I don't see anything!" Yuka cried and rubbed her eyes, the flash blinded me. How are you guys?"

"I can only see white!" Ayumi gasped, pressing her hands against her eyes. "But it should go over after a few seconds I hope. Eri, how are you?"

"Eri?" Ayumi repeated when she failed to get a response. Her eyes started to adjust to the darkness again, and slowly she began to see the silhouette of her friend. But unlike herself and Yuka, Eri had her back against the window and didn't appeared to have been blinded by the lightning.

"Eh… yes yes, I am okay!" Eri suddenly mumbled as if she just had woken from a trance. "I think I almost got a shock there! I…."

"…you?" Yuka continued when Eri failed to finish whatever she was about to say. "What was it?" She asked worryingly and blinked several times to get her sight back in focus. "Is anything wrong girl?"

Eri's eyes were fixed at the Ouija board lying on the table between them, her hands hang unmoving down her sides while the woman herself seemed to be frozen to the spot where she was standing.

The words that were trying to take form on her lips failed several times before she eventually took a deep breath and licked her lips. "I….I when the lightning struck, I just reacted, I didn't realize I removed my hand. I tried to cover my ears." she began shakenly, "But I am afraid that doing so I might have moved the planchette a bit…"

"And so…?" asked Yuka.

"I accidently pushed the planchette… there!" she said and pointed towards the board's left corner where a sun-disc was engraved.

"Yes!" Ayumi read. "You answered!"

"No, yes… I mean it was an accident I say, I didn't mean to say yes!"

"Just wait a sec and let me check the rules," Yuka said and grasped for the manual which she immediately began rushing through.

"It only says that a response should be positive or negative, nothing about accidents."

"This can't be real; please tell me you just are making this up Eri." Yuka said, looking a bit unsure. "It was you who moved the thing the entire time?"

"NO! I have done nothing wrong, the blasted thing was moving on its own and I had nothing to do with it. Perhaps you want to try to put on your fingers and see yourself?" Eri snapped, not feeling comfortable at all. Silence followed, and from the outside she could hear the air pulsing as thunder rumbled ominously in the distance while the wind blew hard, gusting against the windows and the doors. Eri, Yuka and Ayumi watched at each other and their surroundings, listening for any sounds that couldn't be explained by the storm.

"Do you think this count as a positive answer?" Eri began "For an invitation I mean?"

"Perhaps we just should ask the spirit instead of acting up," Yuka sighed. "Remember that we are supposed to be adults now, not frightened teenagers. Besides, this isn't a horror movie and grandpa did this all the time without anything bad happening to him."

"This was a stupid idea, why couldn't we have played a game of chess while waiting for Kagome. No, this has to be utterly nonsense, there are no such things as ghosts and I am sure that when Kagome comes she will completely agree with me, shrine maiden or not!" Eri huffed, crossing her arms.

Yuka and Ayumi stared back at each other, not feeling so sure about how to respond until Ayumi spoke up. "Wasn't it your grandfather we were trying to contact? Because if it is him, do we really need to worry so much? He wasn't any bad person after all. Should we ask who it is?"

Ayumi's reasoning was sound enough, they all knew the old man and wouldn't be frightened by an answer from his ghost, even though Eri was dubious about the whole thing. Another moment passed by when it turned out that none of them dared to be the next to touch the planchette again, and eventually it was Yuka who first raised her arm and stretched out to touch it.

"Alright then. Spirit, will you please tell us your name?" she said firmly. But if she sounded brave, Yuka felt anything but as goosebumps rose on her arm when she stretched forward to touch the planchette. Her hand made contact with the object and for a few seconds she hoped that nothing more would happen, but suddenly as if a cold skeleton hand had gripped her to guide her hand, the planchette came to life and began slowly to slide across the board.

Yuka's hand froze as it was obviously that nobody else were touching it… at least none that could be seen. Neither of them said a word, less alone breath at the old piece of wood crawled and made a stop at the letter…

"K"

Then out of sudden, strong lights started to flicker, making them cry out in fear before the room abruptly was bathed in an electrical light. The power had unexpectedly turned on again.

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 **Please review and tell me what you think guys^^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha**

 **The Invitation- Part four**

 _She ran and ran, but never fast enough to outrun her pursuer. The world around her was black or grey and no stars or moon lit up the heavens above, around her grew tall pines and spruces with branches like skeleton hands that would end her flight if she came too close. It was an endless pursuit with no beginning and no end…_

Gasping as if someone had tried to strangle her, Ayumi jolted awake and touched her face. She was drenched in sweat that ran down her face like a river and her pulse was racing as if she barely had escaped drowning, the details were vague but the nightmare she had woken from had been dreadful. Only the feeling of mortal terror refused to leave her soul as she stirred frightful into the oppressing darkness that surrounded her. Staring and staring, but there was nothing there, nothing but the soft sound of human breathing and her heartbeat that drummed in her ears like thunder.

It took an indefinite amount of time before her pulse had calmed to a level where she could properly focus and take a closer look around at the unfamiliar surroundings, which left two things clear: She wasn't sleeping in a bed and she wasn't home!

The room was almost pitch dark and she could barely make out the lines of various objects around herself while she waited for the memories to return to her. She turned her head and found Yuka sitting bent sideways and fully asleep while Eri was sitting opposite them and snored lightly. At some point all of them must had fallen asleep without going to bed, she fished up the smartphone from her pocked and watched the shining numbers once it activated; 01:05!

Ayumi rose from the sofa, silently as not to wake her sleeping friends and walked over to the window to stare outside at the road and the forest below. She couldn't recall which of them that fell asleep last, but it was definitively not her as she couldn't remember turning of the lights or the TV.

The world outside the window was dark and gloomy. The storm had had surprisingly enough passed, together and pulled with it most of the storm clouds, leaving behind an eerie moonlight landscape of water and darkness. Behind, she heard one of her friends turn in her sleep, but other than this and their breaths, everything was silent. Using her phone as a flashlight, Ayumi navigated to the door where three pair of shoes were neatly seated in row, indicating that one person was still missing.

"Strange, she should have been here by now!" she mused, pulled forth her phone again face and hit a number with worry written on her. "I hope nothing is wrong…" she whispered and prayed silently for an answer. Unfortunately though, her prayer was denied by an automatic voice in the other end. Ayumi tried two more times with just as little luck.

In the end it was nothing she could do about it, Ayumi turned away from the window and was about to go back to the living-room when suddenly an icy chill seemed to sweep into the room. It was deathly cold and lasted only for a few seconds but foreboding buzzed along her limbs like an electric current pulsing just beneath her skin. For some reason, she got a creeping feeling that there was something behind her on the outside. Her breath halted as she turned around, painfully slow with no knowledge of what would meet her gaze.

Nothing! Nothing was staring at her through the window and for a short moment a sense of relief rushed through her, giving her just enough courage to have a closer look. Squinting her eyes, Ayumi tried to peer through the ominous fog that slowly crept up from the forest and up toward the house.

Just beyond the window, and surrounding the house, lay a garden in a chaos of nettles and weeds field, overgrown by knee high shrubs with deep shadows. Ayumi's heart was thudding in her chest. She didn't know why. There was no obvious reason for her fear. There was no one out there, she knew that but every nerve in her body was urging her to move away from the window.

Then, as if it had been done by magic, the clouds that partly had obscured the moon up till now, moved away, letting its deathly pale light shine upon the entire front yard and illuminate everything down to the forest in an eerie light. And there she saw it!

Right outside the ancient forest, with fog seeping around stood a dark shadow and looked back at her.

Ayumi tried to scream, but no sound escaped her lips. The shadow or whatever it was, seemed crocked, making it difficult to see whether it was something on two or four legs. But this was enough for the young woman! Tearing her eyes lose from the figure, she ran back to her sleeping comrades.

"Eri! Yuka! Wake up! There is something out there!" she yelled and shook each of them in turn.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Yuka mumbled with sleepy eyes. "Did we fall asleep on the sofa?"

"No, yes… I mean there is something standing out there in the back of the garden!"

"Maybe it is an animal?" Eri said drowsily and looked at the clock on her phone. "Shit, is it that late. Have Kagome arrived yet?"

Ayumi stared at them with a look full of worry and desperation, "No, I can't see she has, but come!" and then she began pulling the short haired girl by her hand, forcing her out of the comfortable sofa and over to the window while pointing.

"Alright, where is this creature of yours?" Eri asked and looked outside. But the fog had already crept closer and swallowed up the spot where Ayumi had seen it, leaving only an impenetrable wall of white and grey to look at.

"I swear I saw something there, it must be inside the fog," Ayumi replied, not feeling particular well.

Eri and Yuka looked dutifully at where Ayumi pointed, staring until a light rain began to fall from the sky and dissolved the fog enough to let them see the forest's dark pillars, but no shadow or figure whatsoever.

"There is nothing there Ayumi" Eri yawned

"It must have moved," Ayumi answered, but wasn't sure whether Eri believed her.

"Come, let us go to bed," an uneasy Yuka said. "I am sure there is good explanation for why Kagome isn't here yet, but let us worry about that tomorrow. Right now a warm and cozy bed is all that I can think of. I am freezing."

* * *

Later

Eri was tossing and turning in her sleep, plagued by a repeating sound that haunted her dreams until the line between dreams and reality became blurred. It took all the willpower she could muster, but eventually did she manage to sit up in her bed to look for the annoying noise. Eri was sleeping alone in the guest room on the second floor while Ayumi and Yuka slept together in another room a bit further away down the corridor. She didn't knew if the sound was effecting them, but the squeaky noise was just loud enough to cause her insomnia. So because it still was dark outside, Eri reached for the nightstand to turn on the lamp, only to be disappointed when the light didn't turn on.

Cursing silently, Eri pushed herself unwillingly up from the bed and onto the cold floor. Now as she could focus, the sound seemed harsh and banging and appeared to come from a distant place, but not from inside the house! She turned to her lone window which faced the back of the garden and looked outside. Many dark and bottomless puddles lay strewn around and dotted the grass, and at the very end, just barely visible in the dark, was the source of her insomnia: The door to the shed was open and was slamming in the wind.

"Blasted, who forgot to close the door!" she grunted and went straight to bed again and tried to sleep now as she knew what it was.

But time dragged on…

*Dunk*

*Dunk*

*Dunk*

Eri turned around and pressed the pillow over her head, "Oh shut up you stupid door! Why can't you understand somebody is trying to sleep!"

But the sound continued as if it was challenging her to come and close it. She looked at the clock, "Half past two, oh God!" Her hand stretched to reach the lamp on the cupboard beside the bed and pressed the switch, but nothing happened this time either. "And the power is of course still gone, I knew it was too god to be true when it came back earlier this evening."

Eri got up from bed again and felt a jolt of unease when her naked feet touched the cold floor, the temperature in the room was far from pleasant and the memories of the hauntingly board game lurked like a dark shadow in the back of her mind. "Come on girl, you have never been superstitious," Eri said, scolding herself. "No reason to suddenly turn into a scary-cat now. The whole thing was probably a hoax Yuka had planned, and I bet she also let the door to the shed stay open to see if she could scare us even more."

Therefore, clad only in her long night gown, Eri opened the bedroom door and peeked into the dark corridor beyond. It was empty and silent, the door to Yuka and Ayumi's bedroom was closed and only the dim light from the windows prevented her from fumbling around in the horrible darkness. For a moment she contemplated whether she should wake her friends to accompany her outside, but decided against since she was sure Yuka never would let her hear the end of it if she thought she was afraid.

Clad in only a thin night gown, Eri shivered and felt goosebumps soon appeared on her skin as she walked down the stairs. "Gosh, why couldn't Yuka turn up the heat before we went… drat, the power!" she mumbled upon remembering that the electrical heater was just as useless without electricity as the lights were.

As she began her descent down the stairs, Eri had a raging internal debate whether it was a good idea to walk out there alone or stay in bed and try to sleep. In the end however, it was her pride of being a rational adult that kept her going, thrusting her knowledge that darkness only existed because the lack of light, simple and easy!

Once downstairs, the trip to the entrance then took her past the dark living-room where they had been sitting earlier with candles and a Ouija board as entertainment while waiting for their forth friend to arrive. Eri had no particular reason to linger by the room, but suddenly like irresistible calling to her, Eri slowly turned her head to peek inside, as if someone wanted her to look. From her position right outside the door, she could just barely make out the outline of the furniture in the dim moonlight. Almost everything was colored in the darkest shade of greyish black, the rest had a ghostly blue hue where the moon's rays reflected. Bookshelves with black books covered the left wall from floor to ceiling and on the opposite wall was the TV, against the opposite wall from where she stood was the empty sofa facing her with a small table at the front. One dark armchair stood sideways, it was the one she had been sitting in earlier, the other was facing the table with its tall back against her.

She didn't know how long she had been standing there and staring, but a sudden urge made her want to continue so she tore her face away back to the entrance not far ahead. Eri had barely made her first step before turning her head again, for a last forbidden peek. The armchair that was facing away from her seemed so wrong, as if someone sat in there and waited, waiting for something…. or to play…?

Eri swallowed. The boardgame was still lying on the table, but hadn't they put it back inside the box? She wasn't sure, she only remembered herself being angry at Yuka over that silly thing and hadn't really paid much attention to it after that. What had come over her to cause such a fuss, she was usually far more accepting about her friends' antics than this!

She abruptly stopped in her tracks, wide-eyed. Just when did she walk into the living-room? Eri had never meant to it, but somehow she had unconsciously abandoned the corridor and stood halfway between the door and the armchair.

Did somebody sit in there?

The black chair seemed to pull her towards it and she had already raised her hand to swing it around.

She stared….

Then she turned on her heels and walked out to the entrance and into the garden, never looking back.

But even though she left the ghastly room, the feeling of terror didn't leave her body. On the contrary, the further she walked from the house and the closer she came to the shed, the more frightened did she become. The shed stood at the edge of the forest and behind was a tiny yet steep hill where they had played as kids, but now it felt alien to her, as if she was seeing it for the first time.

The door was still slamming, but her pace slowed down the closer she came to it… until she stood finally stood there. It was slamming against the doorframe from the inside of the shed…

*Dunk*

*Dunk*

*Dunk*

Eri waited until the door slammed before her hand shot towards the handle to lock it, but as soon as she grippe the handle, the door pulled open again, and this time with such a force that she lost her balance and fell.

And falling head first inside the dark room would been her fate if she hadn't also slipped on the grass at the same time. Suddenly it was her feet that came first, but they collided with the wall and made her fall to the wet ground and tumble around and down the hill.

The world around her spun like a spinning top, blurring both trees, bushes and sky together into a mishmash of water and darkness.

But it was the black hands, that opened the door from the inside that kept replaying in her mind.

* * *

 **Please, leave a review and tell me what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha**

 **The Invitation. Part five**

Opening her eyes felt like lifting a heavy rock, it was slow and hard and she failed several times before she could open them enough to look at her surroundings. It was dark, so very dark and it took several seconds before she actually was able to see anything that made sense, but when it did, she almost wished her eyes had remained closed.

Eri lay half buried inside the skeleton of a bush that had lost its leaves. The small and stiff branches felt like needles against her skin that deliberately prevented her from getting up from her tangled prison. She didn't knew how far down the slope she had fallen, but her thin clothes were torn to the unrecognizable and she bled from an unknown number of cuts and wounds all over her body. And she hurt, so very much.

"Help," she tried to call, but found her voice being no more than a faint whisper. "Is anyone there? Please help me, it hurts!"

But the cold and claustrophobic forest didn't answer. The dense undergrowth was dark, wet and dirty, just like herself and the trees above took on strange, shifting shapes in the faint moonlight, but worst of all was the silence. There was no sound of either night-birds, animals, nor did any wind blow through the trees, as if the forest had been forsaken by them all.

"Yuka…." Eri whispered once more and noticed how increasingly harder it became to breath. "Ayumi… where am I…"

She tried to muster what little strength she had to get up from the vicious thorns and vines that kept her trapped, but her body failed. Both her hands and legs lay spread in different directions, unmovable and lifeless like a marionette without strings.

She didn't knew how long she had lay like this, but as time dragged on Eri felt her eyelids became heavier and heavier while she felt less and less of the agonizing pain. Her eyes closed again and again, and each time for longer than the previous one. Then, after having tried to keep the sleep at bay for some time, Eri though she heard something. It was faint but sounded like a whisper that came from the trees and with the last of her strength, she bended her head backwards to look up at the canopies. It was a strange angle, but she kept staring until she saw in the corner of her eyes something white and ghostly that slowly flew through the air towards her. But the scream she wanted to let out, died on her cold lips.

* * *

Ayumi's eyes flung open when a cold electric jolt shot through her body, bending her back into a sitting position. Her uneven and rapid breath sounded loud in her ears as she gasped for air.

"Ayumi, what is it?" a sleepy voice asked from the pillow beside her. "Did you dream of anything?"

"I..I.. am not sure…, I can't remember. It is all gone, gone!" Ayumi whispered, staring frightened into the darkness of their bedroom. Warm sweat trickled down her face, she wanted to move, but couldn't. She was frozen like a statue, her legs and arms remained rigid as if held in place by an invisible force.

Yuka shifted in the bed and Ayumi felt the mattress move as her friend forced herself awake.

"A nightmare?" she asked and rubbed her eyes.

"Yes, but I can't for the life of it remember a single thing. It is just… emptiness."

"Sounds like you were dreaming about my math exam! I can remember a thing from it either, and nothing about the time before or after…Only an empty void."

Yuka's dry comment caused Ayumi to let out a tiny snigger which released her body from the spell. "Thanks!"

"You are welcome, but if you ever want to learn what you dreamt about, I can show you a copy of the questions…"

"I'd rather not," Ayumi said and let her gaze wander towards the window. "The rain has stopped and the moon is out."

"Yeh, and it is in the middle of the night, can we go back to sleep now? Ayumi…?"

The moon was full and shone so alluringly bright, and before Ayumi knew how or when, she found herself standing at the window and looking through it.

"It is beautiful!" she whispered.

"And eerie!" Yuka added, walking up beside her. "Look at the fog! I am glad I am not outside now, the forest is almost impossible to see, it is as if the trees are appearing and vanishing around us." She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. But the view, beautiful or eerie, had a hypnotizing effect on them that made the women stare longer and deeper than either of them had meant to.

Above the surrounding mountains, high up in the dark autumn night, shone the moon shine with its ghostly silvery light, illuminating the shadowy mountain tops around. Beneath them in the surrounding valley, the dim fog held a strangling grip on the forest, threatening to drown the trees in white and grey. Nothing had prepared them for this sight, but the cold autumn air that crept up their naked legs made both Yuka and Ayumi want to go back to bed before long. Ayumi had actually turned around and was almost at the bed again when she heard Yuka gasp.

"Something is coming up the road from the fog!"

"What!?"

"It is hard to tell but it looks like a person!"

"No way!"

"It is coming closer, it is a person, someone is really coming. But who…"

"Kagome!" Ayumi gasped and hurried back to Yuka. And just like the slightly older woman said, out from the thick sea of white with tendrils clinging to the body did a person emerge.

"She is finally here! I will go and open the door for her," Yuka continued and sprang towards the bedroom-door, leaving Ayumi alone at the window. She listened to Yuka's steps as she plunged down the stairs before she heard a thud, followed by a curse. "Ouch, I didn't see the freaking table, where is the light?"

Ayumi didn't answer, instead she continued to stare through the window at the figure, unable to shake of the feeling of unease that had snuck into her mind. The figure which had to be Kagome, hadn't walked far up the road before she was caught up again by the fog which flowed past like a silent river. She squeezed her eyes to see better, but the figure became entirely swallowed up until all Ayumi could see was the white that reached half-way up to the house. From the first floor she heard Yuka yell that the light was out again and that she needed a torch, but didn't remembered where she left it. Without turning her head, Ayumi's eyes moved slightly to the left and found the torch Yuka was looking for.

But still Ayumi didn't say anything. Her eyes quickly left it and drifted back to the fog and waited.

The midnight-cloud waved again and pulled back, just enough to reveal an empty path were the figure should have been walking right now. Ayumi knew she wanted to warn Yuka, but for some strange reason did not a sound come out when she opened her mouth, and soon she heard the slamming of the front door.

* * *

Yuka hurried to put on a jacket and a pair of old jeans that happened to lie on a bench at the entrance before slipping on a pair of sneakers and opened the door.

The cold night air hit her body like a wall of brick and made her shiver.

"Kagome!" she said loudly "Are you there?"

But the spot where she had seen her friend walking a few moments ago had vanished inside an impregnable wall of mist that prevented her from seeing far. The forest had almost disappeared again and only the tallest tree tops were visible at the distance as the fog rolled in and towards the untamed garden.

"I can't see you, can you hear me?" she continued and stepped out on the narrow veranda. "Kagome? Can you please answer me, I know I saw you out there."

She waited long enough on the veranda till she knew she should have seen Kagome walking up the road, but when the woman failed to appear, she embraced herself and took a few steps forwards, one at a time until she stood on the gravel.

"Hello, can you hear me?... Oh God, please don't let her have lost the road in the thick soup," she mumbled, not particular keen to walk into the darkness to find her. Yuka wasn't sure how long she should wait, but after a minute with no response she walked closer nevertheless. The fog was waiting for her right outside the fence, daring her to step into the unknown and although Yuka knew she had to remain calm, she couldn't help but imagine what could be inside the fog if she stepped inside.

" _There is nothing there, only Kagome who has gotten lost between the garden and the forest edge, you know this place and there is nothing to be afraid of!"_ she thought for herself, but the doubt in her mind overwhelmed any positive thought she had.

There was a war raging in her mind about whether she should be a responsible adult and look for her friend or if she should wait and hope for the best. Eventually it was her rational adult side that won, Yuka took a deep breath of cold air, stepped out of her garden and walked inside the mist.

It was freezing cold, and all she could see was white in every direction. Yuka regretted immediately her decision as she tried her best to keep herself to the road and not wander off somewhere.

"Kagome?" she called, but her voice seemed to drown in the dark white ocean. "Kagome can you please make a noise so I can find you, it is hard to see anything at all. This isn't fun."

She didn't knew how far she had ventured, but she hoped she hadn't gone further than to the forest edge when she suddenly heard something.

"Kagome? Is that you?"

The sound seemed to have come from her right side and Yuka steered herself in that direction, stepping carefully as she had a hard time seeing her own feet. She stopped after a few steps and listened again, and as on cue she heard the sound again, this time a bit further away.

"Kagome, I am here, answer me, please. Kago….mppaaaiiiiiiii!"

Yuka screamed when the waterlogged ground under her feet suddenly gave in and she slipped down the hill. Howling and screaming, she waved with her hands to keep balance while sliding on her feet, but this proved dangerously difficult so she quickly forced her body against the slope's direction such that she could put her hands on the ground while sliding. This action had also the fortunate effect on slowing down her speed enough to let her stop after a few nerve wrecking moments where she feared for her life.

With her hands and clothes full of mud, she took a moment to relax and breath. "Oh God, where am I now? I shouldn't have walked so close to the edge," she mumbled, straightened up and looked around.

The fog wasn't nearly as thick down here and despite the darkness, the moon's rays were just enough to let her see the faint outlines of trees around.

"I slipped into the forest, did I? I hope Kagome didn't do the same," she said and tried to take a few steps up the same hill she came down, only to have her foot slip on the mud. Speaking loudly did always have a calming effect on her, but if Kagome also was down here, she hoped the woman could hear her ramblings. "I guess I have to find another way then."

Yuka didn't linger at her spot for long, she was wet and freezing and wanted up and back to her house so she started to walk along the slope, hoping to find a better way up. It was strange how such a familiar place could look so alien in the dark, she knew she should have known every tree and rock but it was as if she had fallen into another world. The trees stood tall and dark, shrouded in mist and she couldn't hear anything above the rattle of the branches and her own ragged breathing as she walked.

Once more, Yuka was at a loss for how long or how far she had walked, but the light from the moon shone a little brighter now and made it possible to see a bit further ahead. It was then she though she saw something.

"Hello?" She asked carefully and stared at the dark humanoid-looking form that appeared to be partly hidden in a dead bush not far in front of her. "Oh Kagome it _is_ you, I am so glad to see you." The shape didn't move or answer but Yuka rushed to her side nevertheless and grabbed an arm. "Did you fall and hurt yourself, here let me have a look at you."

"Kagome….?" she repeated and yanked the arm carefully and heard the rustle from a bush.

But just as she did, an eerie ray of slivery light managed to slip through the fog and illuminated herself and arm she was holding. It was torn and bloody and with growing horror she followed the length of it into the shrub… and let out an ear-piercing scream when her knees failed at the sight.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Staring back at her upside-down with dead, glassy eyes, lay a familiar looking body supported by a tangled web of tiny branches.

* * *

 **Sorry for the long wait, but many things came up while writing this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and will leave a review^^**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha**

 **The invitation: Part six**

Ayumi didn't knew how long she had been standing there and just staring at the fog that surrounded the house. She had seen Yuka walk inside it to look for Kagome, but neither of the women had walked out again, not that she believed it had been Kagome in the first place either. There was something sinister about the dark fog, Ayumi just knew it. She could only hope that Yuka would come back again safe, because there was no way she could convince herself to go out there and look for her!

In the end though, the long-haired woman managed to tear her gaze away from the window and back to the room. The temperature was freezing and the bed seemed like a cozy place to wait for her friend right now. Her thin night-gown gave little protection against the cold night so she hurried back to the bed and slipped under the blanket which provided not only warmth, but also some sort of phycological comfort. It was almost shameful to admit it, even for herself, but Ayumi had never been comfortable in the dark, and even up to her late teens she had never gone to sleep without at least some light in the room.

She wiggled herself into a comfortable position and closed her eyes, but the stillness of the house made her too anxious to fall asleep so kept opening her eyes again and again to look. But exactly what she was looking for, she wasn't entirely sure of. If Yuka came, she knew the squeaking stairs would alert her, and so would the slamming of the door. Thinking about the door…

Her head turned towards the bedroom-door with the knowledge that it already was open, Yuka hadn't closed it in her hurry and Ayumi had also forgot to close it before she went back to bed. It was lined up along the same wall as the bed and turned inwards into the room in an inviting manner, allowing her to see the darkness from the corridor beyond through a narrow gap. She tried to ignore the feeling, but the thought of sleeping with it open made her feel vulnerable so after an internal debate she rose from her bed to close the door.

The floor felt cold against her soft soles and she stopped cautiously at the door and peeked through the opening. There was nothing on the other side but eerie darkness and a ghostly light coming from the stairs at the end of the corridor, scary but not altogether frightening once her eyes adjusted to the dark. Ayumi was just about to close the door when she suddenly noticed a faint light from Eri's room.

"Eri?" she said softly, not sure if the other woman was awake.

"Eri" she hissed again, this time a bit louder. It was creepy how loud her voice sounded when all was silent around her, almost as if the house itself wanted stifle her voice.

"Eri, are you awake?" Ayumi asked and stuck her head into the corridor to have a better look. She waited another second but there was still no response. "You forgot to lock your door, shall I close it for you?" Then something strange hit her, there was absolutely no sound at all, beside her own pulse she couldn't hear Eri's breath when she tried to listen for it. Slightly worried that something might have happened, she looked hastily around herself and tip-toed fast down the corridor and peeked into the guest room where Eri had gone to bed.

The light she had seen came from the moon and shone through the window and bathed the room in ghostly white. "Eri are you there?" she said once more to the bed. The bed was partly hidden in the shadow so she couldn't see the woman properly, only the faint imprint at the lower part where the blanket bulged. Perhaps she should shake her awake?

Ayumi went silently over to the bedside and paused, trying to control the creeping terror that was spreading through her. There was no breath!

She squinted her eyes and followed the blanket's bulge up until it vanished at the unlit part of the bed at the pillows. Then she stretched her hand and pulled carefully the blanket away from the bulge, not to sure what to expect, but as more and more of the fabric was pulled onto the floor, the worse her nervousness got. The blanket slid off the bulge until she abruptly had removed all of it, and swallowed. The bed was empty, there was no one lying there and Ayumi could see no sign of what could have caused the imprint, or maybe it just had been her imagination!

"Eri, are you hiding?" she asked, but was met with the same horrible silence as before; the silence of something waiting in the dark, holding its breath.

She did a quick search through the room but it was all to obvious that she wasn't there, could she have followed Yuka outside when she rushed past, or maybe just had to go for the bathroom? The bathroom was downstairs and at the other end of the house and she didn't like it a bit. It may have been an early wonder in Japan back when it was installed, a western water toilet complete with a sink and running water, but the antiqued equipment made her feel uncomfortable, even in broad daylight. The tubes always made a horrible sound when the water ran through it, and the toilet itself was tall and imposing with the high hanging cistern. She also always reserved a special curse for the British who had installed the sink with two separate taps, one for warm- and one for -cold water!

But early twentieth century design wasn't on her list of concerns, right now she only wanted to find Eri and the bathroom was the most likely place to find her at this hour, if she hadn't followed Yuka. Or could it perhaps have been Eri they had spotted out there? She dearly hoped not because that would mean she was alone in the house with two missing persons when not counting Kagome!

It was only one way to find it out.

Ayumi braced herself and was about to leave when a faint sigh suddenly caught her attention and made her freeze. If the house hadn't been so deafening quiet she would have brushed it off as her imagination, but since this was the only sound she had heard that not came from herself, it kept repeating like an echo in her mind.

"Hello, is anyone there?" she asked into the room and immediately regretted that she raised her voice.

Ayumi waited and held her breath for a full minute without hearing the sigh again. Maybe it really had been her imagination, being alone and far away from the noisy city was a rare thing for her and perhaps this was just how it was on the countryside. With cautious steps and as silently as she could, Ayumi moved back to the dark corridor again and looked at the stairs. Yuka had rushed down without worrying too much and fearlessly ventured into the dark outdoor, why should she be anymore afraid? Plastering her hands on the walls, she let the old house guide her safely to the staircase until she could stop and look down. She remembered having seen a pile of old magazines lying on one of the steps earlier but couldn't remember on which one so she had to tread carefully as the darkness enveloped the stairs.

Slowly, she started her descend. Her heart lurched as the steps groaned and creaked under her weight but she carried on nevertheless. Each step brought her closer to the bottom and further away from the safety of her room until she put her foot on the floor, there she suddenly felt a tingling at the back of her neck, as if someone stood at the top and looked down at her. Ayumi swallowed nervously and turned her head slowly to look back at where she came from, but the top of the stairs was shrouded in darkness which her eyes couldn't penetrate if she so had stared for a hundred years.

She turned her head back again at the same pace but still with the unnerving feeling of being watched. In front of her lay a new corridor which she had to follow, behind was another hall that went to the old cigar lounge which had been the men's private room in the old days, ahead was the way that would take her past the kitchen, the living-room and finally the bath.

The trip down the dark hallway was agonizing slowly, mostly because every fiber in her body wanted her to run while common sense said that doing that in the dark was plain stupid. The first room she passed was the kitchen, it was on her right side and faced away from the front yard, making it completely dark as the moon shone from the other direction.

The next room she came to was the living-room on her left side, the door was open and provided the only light for the corridor she was walking through, and Ayumi was about to pass it when she froze in horror.

The sound of buzzling static almost made her jump out of her skin and she span around. The room was partly lit by the moon's silvery light and draped in shadows, but facing her directly from the wall on the other side was the old TV. There was no program running, only a blurred TV-static that desperately tried to tune into something.

Ayumi felt her pulse reach a level she didn't thought was possible for a human as she started at the old box, the screen didn't show anything at first, but the longer she stared the more she thought it was possible to make out the faint outline of a person on the screen. She was absolutely sure the TV should have been completely dead without power, but now it seemed to have come back on its own! A tiny voice in her head made a prayer that this also was the case for the lights but she had her doubts.

The static was so terrifying and hypnotic that she had almost failed to notice the tall armchair that stood with its back against her, but when she did, she could just glimpse the top of a head belonging to a person sitting on the other side.

Ayumi let out a deep sigh and felt a rush of relief wash through her, "Jeez, you really got me there, scaring me like that!" she said and took a step into the room. "I thought you hade gone to bed but here you are, sleeping in front of the TV! Yuka went outside to look for Kagome, she thought she saw someone coming but she hasn't come back yet. What should we do?"

No response.

"Eri? Wake up!"

Ayumi walked up behind the armchair and ignored the uncanny static, the armchair was one of those which could be turned around because the seat was placed on a wheel so she laid her hand on top of the back and turned it around…

…and yanked backwards while letting out the most painful and blood-curdling scream that her lungs could muster, and didn't stop screaming, even when she went out of air. Scared beyond belief, Ayumi backed towards the wall while her entire body shook in uncontrolled panic.

There, sitting in the chair as if it was a throne and staring back at her was neither Eri nor Yuka but the most horrible and twisted shape she ever could have imagined. The clothes were torn and tattered beyond recognition, and where they were lacking completely, she could see dark and bloody skin that looked gruesome. The face was female and framed by long raven hair but disfigured by hideous scars that ran the length of one side of the face and pulled the thin lips into a permanent snarl. And the person looked very…, very dead.

With her knees on the verge of collapse and fumbling with her hands to find the door opening, Ayumi gasped the first name that came to her mind… "Kagome!"

Then, the hideous head tilted.

Her lips curled by absolute fear when she cried and ran out of the room, faster than she ever had run before and towards the entrance to flee the house. She didn't care for any obstacle as she plowed her way through anything that stood in her path, knocking over chairs, bags, boxes and piles of clothes. The door was just in front at the end of the corridor with less than ten meters left to run when she suddenly heard a *crack* and saw it open.

The cold moonlight flooded in through the opening and Ayumi had to bend her body backwards and grip the side of a wardrobe in order to stop fast enough.

"Noooo, leave me alone!" she howled in panic and was about to turn around to run when she saw Yuka storm inside and slam the door shut.

"YUKA!" Ayumi gasped and ran towards her friend who was covered in mud, twigs and old leaves. "Where have you been, what has happened? We need to get out now!"

"What! NO!" Yuka cried and placed herself in front of the door to prevent her from escaping. "There is something out there following after me and Eri is dead!" she sobbed hysterical and spread her arms to block the door.

"WHAT! It can't be true!" Ayumi gasped in disbelief as she desperately tried to get past. "But we need to get out, something… someone sitting in the living-room aa.. and doesn't seem..."

"Who?"

"I..iit it is…" Ayumi stuttered and was about to tell her when a bolt of electricity shot down her spine and made her head turn around. "It is HER!" she screamed and pointed toward the end of the corridor.

She saw Yuka follow her hand's direction until her eyes bulged at the sight of a dark and sinister figure which stood at the far end, eerie illuminated by the moon's pale light. The face was hidden by the shadow of her hair, but piercing white pupils shone through the darkness with an evil gleam while the rest of the black hair hang lifeless down from the head and clung to the body, merging with the remaining fabric or the grey skin. Ayumi used Yuka's momentarily distraction to bolt past her friend and was about to open the door when the handle suddenly started to open by itself.

"Get away from the door!" she heard Yuka scream and was pushed away when the other woman's body suddenly pressed her sideways and turned around the lock to keep the door shut.

"And where shall we run?" Ayumi squeaked high-pitched.

"I don't know, the bathroom?" Yuka shouted back with tears rolling down her face.

*Click* *Click* *Click*

The sound of the locked door trying to open made the decision for them, both jumped away from it and bolted into the corridor where they only got a short distance before stopping again.

In front of them, far closer than it had been just a couple of seconds ago stood the terrible figure, and now even Yuka could see the ghastly, unnatural face. Neither of them had seen the figure move, but now it started to sway forward on stiff legs.

Yuka screamed and turned around to the door, an action Ayumi wasn't slow to follow up either but halted when something stared to bang on it from the outside.

"Go away, just go away! Why are you here, you are not welcome in my house!" Yuka shouted while Ayumi backed up against the wall. They were trapped! Trapped between the approaching figure and the locked door with no way of escape, and while Yuka clearly didn't want to face whatever was on the outside, Ayumi had already her hand on the lock when it suddenly started to glow with an unearthly blue color.

Unconcerned by this, the ragged woman began suddenly to speak, her voice was silent like a whisper and emotionless like a rock, but somehow it still had the power to terrify them beyond belief.

"Go away? I won't leave when you just have invited me, there is no way back for me now…"

Illuminated by the glowing door and unprepared by the unexpected response, both women screamed a bone-wrenching scream when the door behind them suddenly opened and they came face to face with another figure.

A cold and hideous face, not unlike the one that was staring from the other side, glowed at them. Water and black mud oozed from the body and dripped onto the floor together with a foul stench of rotten earth, and if Ayumi ever should have described a corpse pulled out from a swamp, this would be the image!

The air left their lungs as Ayumi and Yuka pressed their backs up against the wall in wild panic, but after having stared scrutinizing at them for a short moment did the second figure turn its gaze towards the first one.

But after a few seconds of staring, it was the first one who spoke, "What are _you_ doing here? The invitation to enter is _mine_!" it hissed.

A long moment of silence followed before the wile figure in the door answered, as if it needed time to think.

"I could ask the same for you, I also have an invitation… _Kikyo_ "

* * *

 **Please leave me a comment and tell me what you think, I love to hear your thoughts.**


	7. Chapter 7

**The invitation. Part seven**

 **Hello and sorry for my long absence, many things has happened in life since last I posted but I haven't forgotten or abandoned the story. I hope you will continue to read it as I will soon finish the tale so please enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha.**

* * *

The world was spinning around until every last sense of up and down was completely lost to her, the only thing she knew was that if she didn't get away soon, she would be crushed to death or buried alive in a terrible grave. She grabbed the door handle in an attempt to push it open, only to find it firmly stuck! The ferocious sound of moving earth, grinding stones, breaking glass and groaning metal grew louder until they were deafening, telling about the approaching doom.

"The hell! I need to get out of here or else I will be screwed." She screamed, but had barely let out her frustration before the vehicle was pushed up from behind when an enormous boulder rose from underneath, sending her face first forward and collided with the airbag which activated at the same moment. Fortunately though, it was in this very moment her powers flared to life and flooded through her entire body, bathing it in an ethereal glow that shone through the dark night. Shielded from the surroundings, she didn't feel the pain of hitting the airbag, nor did the numerous tiny objects of glass, stone and wood pierce her skin anymore as they plowed past her when the room suddenly became filled up with a thick mixture of earth and water.

Then, from behind and out of the dark came a huge log sliding past on her right side, smashing through the glass in front of her before continuing out again faster than she was moving. This was her chance!

Ignoring the pain in her body, she grabbed the metal frame that still contained long and sharp splinters and pulled herself out. The countless shards that otherwise would have pierced her skin didn't harm her anymore thanks to her ethereal protection, but the feeling of sharp glass between her fingers felt unnerving nevertheless. She made it through the window in record time after a short struggle and soon found herself free and balancing on the top of the moving car.

"Woah girl, best to get away from this fast!" she told herself and waved her arms to keep balance. The rain combined with darkness made it hard to see far, but eventually she managed to jump upon a couple of huge, moving rocks before she finally sat her feet down on solid ground. "Phew, that was a close one….

 ***Crunch***

Kagome turned in time to see her car being flattened when an enormous boulder rolled over the vehicle, "…and it doesn't seem likely that I will be driving again anytime soon!" she grunted while watching the last of her car being dragged away to the depth of the valley.

"But how am I going to get away now…" she groaned when she heard a last metallic crash further down. "Yuka's house is still miles away and the city is at least twice the distance.

Sighing, Kagome let go of her protective barrier and was immediately struck by the ghastly and unforgivable wind. "Shit, feels so cold! I better get moving less I will freeze to death instead!" she shuddered, wrapped her arms around her and began searching for a path which hopefully would lead back up to the road. A thin, wet mist hang in the air, shining slightly in the pale moonlight and the dense undergrowth tugged at her feet, trying to trip her by throwing up ankle-twisting, gnarled roots.

Apart from the mudslide in the distance, everything was deathly silent until the trees began to whisper and Kagome felt as if every shadow suddenly grew eyes.

"I know you are n there and are watching me. Come out so I can see you!" Kagome spoke into the dark. A short moment of silence followed before the soft sound of hooved footsteps revealed the creature. "So it was you who were watching me when I was driving!" Kagome stated and found herself staring into a pair of dark and ancient eyes.

Out from the trees stepped an elk which Kagome upon closer look understood had to be of mixed demonic and mononoke origin. It was slightly taller than it's mortal cousins with a reddish-brown pelt and impressive antlers like a crown upon his head. The neck was long and had ragged fur hanging down, reminding her slightly of the fur around Kirara's neck. How an elk had ended up on the Japanese islands was another matter, but since this also was a supernatural creature, Kagome knew anything was possible so she shrugged it off.

"Thank you for trying to warn me earlier and sorry that I didn't pay more attention to it. I am afraid I don't come across your kind often enough in this era to pay enough attention," she said and bowed her head, getting mud into her face in the process. The creature didn't say anything but Kagome knew it was sentience behind the black eyes that stared back at her. A cold wind swept through the trees and made her shiver. "Brrrr, it is really cold, and being wet doesn't help either. Sorry to bother you, but do you think you could be so kind and give me a ride to a friend of mine? She has a house here somewhere," she asked and wrapped her arms around herself.

The elk tilted it's neck as if it was debating her request, but what happened next though both fascinated and startled her. Instead of walking closer, it stretched its neck! From it's position on top of the moss-covered stone, the neck suddenly began to lengthen and stretch towards her until their heads were face to face, a distance of at least four meters. Then it nodded it's head ever so slightly.

"Thank you so very much," Kagome said and let her hand gently glide over the creature's cheek before she walked up to the main body. There she laid her right arm on the top of the back, grasped the hair and pulled herself on top of it. The creature who had craned its head backwards to watch her, retracted its head again until Kagome could grasp the antlers and hold onto them before it started walking.

The elk climbed up to the road above them, walking carefully so Kagome wouldn't fall off. Once it reached the flat road it made a short pause while it stared in the direction she had been heeding, breathed hard through its nose and lowered its head. Kagome had no choice but to stretch her body along the back in order to keep her grasp on the antlers. Then, without further warning it suddenly began to run. And it ran fast, so without a saddle, Kagome had to cling on with all her might in order not to fall off.

As the speed increased, trees and mountains blurred together during the wild ride, the wind howled in her ears and she had a strong feeling that her demonic beast took her faster to her destination than any car could have done. The elk didn't slow down before a heavy fog suddenly surrounded them.

"What is this?" Kagome whispered. "Where did this fog come from and why does it feel so… wrong? Do you sense it as well?" she asked and tried to look around, but the combination of poor human sight, fog and the nights darkness prevented her from seeing far. Her steed did now continue with a far slower speed than before and she guessed they must be somewhere close to the house, that was at least what she hoped as every familiar mark was invisible for her eyes. "It feels as if someone is watching us till, there is something out there…" Kagome mused after a foreboding feeling began spreading through her.

" **Aaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiikkkkkkk!"**

Both Kagome and the elk stiffened when the horrible scream echoed through the fog.

"RUN!" Kagome shouted. "Hurry up!"

The elk bounced off and almost flew through the air as it took her through the fog, made a dash to the left and up a narrow side-way that lead into the forest. Her pulse was racing, not knowing what could be awaiting her, but the more she thought of it, the more familiar did the scream seem and almost as abruptly as they entered the fog, the rode of it. Kagome thought she saw a figure running through the dark before she heard a door slamming.

"Finally, we are here, but what was that? Are the girls outside at this hour?" Kagome wondered loudly as the demon took her all the way up to the house where it stopped right in front of the veranda. Kagome to jumped off and rushed to the door, she grabbed the door handle…. and found it locked.

"Fuck! What is this?" she exclaimed and tried to force it open.

*Click* *Click* *Click*

"Oh come on! It is me! What is going on inside and who are screaming?" she shouted, hearing a pair of frightened voices on the inside.

"Alright, if this is how you want it, then I will open it myself!" Kagome growled, gripped the handle and sent a blast of her spiritual powers through it. The handle and the lock shone with an eerie blue color for a short moment before it said *click* and Kagome busted through the door.

* * *

As the door flung open, two frightened screams yelled back at her and through the dark she could see Yuka and Ayumi staring back with agony and terror in their faces, but it was the third presence in the room that captured her attention more than anything else. The ashen grey face that stared back at her was hauntingly familiar.

"What are you doing here? The invitation to enter is mine!" the woman hissed.

Kagome need a moment to calm herself and think before she finally answered with deep distaste in her voice.

"I could ask the same for you, I also have an invitation… Kikyo"

During the next period of silence, only the two frightened girls' heavy breathings were heard before Kikyo sighed, "What curse is laid on me that even in death makes our paths cross Kagome?"

The sound of her name seemed to shake Yuka and Ayumi's out of their paralysis, "KAGOME!?" they shouted, but Kagome didn't pay heed to them as her mind dwelled on Kikyo alone.

"I honestly don't know what business you have beyond the grave Kikyo, but this time it is definitively you who are out of place. My friends here," she said, finally acknowledging the girl's presence "…invited me over to stay with them for a couple of days, and I trully don't believe they for any reason would willingly invite you. So why are you here?"

Kikyo's emotionless eyes wandered from Kagome to the women who were clinging up against each other and spoke, "Being dead, I was resting in a state of blissful unawareness when a feeling suddenly forced me awake. This feeling that I felt wasn't anything I should have been supposed to know, it was wrong but yet it called to me. Even though _I_ was not the main addressee! Many creatures and beings of untold origins were disturbed in their sleep and wanted to come, but in the end, I was the one to enter the mortal world by the means of an unholy device. A game your so-called friends were playing so carelessly."

Kagome's muddy head turned to Yuka and Ayumi with a questioning look that demanded answer.

"An Ouija board!" Yuka said. "We were bored and I suggested we could have fun with grandfather's old game and see if we could contact him, but I think we must have done something terrible wrong!"

Kagome turned back to the ancient priestess again, "And somehow did they manage to contact you instead, any explanation for this?"

"Foolish!" Kikyo grunted. "None should ever bother the dead, no good will ever come from such a stupid attempt. Your friends however, would never have managed to get the one they were looking for because it wasn't him among the dead they were searching…. It was you!"

Kagome's eyes widened in surprise "Me? But I am not dead…"

"…yet!" Kikyo finished. "I don't think they were searching for you intentionally…. But about you being dead… I assume that depends on the physical time you are present in and whether you chose to die in the past centuries ago, or in the future that yet is to come. Seeing you are here in the future though, I guess I was the closest and therefor was called forth since I already passed away long ago!"

"Kagome, what does she mean? Do you two know each other?" Yuka asked confused, her voice was shivering but her previous hyperventilation had calmed considerably.

"Yuka, if it is true that you were trying to contact your grandfather with an Ouija board, how can it be that Kikyo says it was me who was the one supposed to be summoned? Are you sure you did everything right?"

Both Ayumi and Yuka looked at each other before Ayumi sobbed, "I… my thoughts, mind weren't so strongly focused on the old man… I was thinking about you and Hojo and how you suddenly left him, and us, to travel to America and how unfair it was of you to abruptly disappear like that. So maybe…"

"Me too," Yuka confessed, interrupting Ayumi. "I must have been thinking about you as well when we were supposed to summon the spirit and broken the rule about focusing on the person you want to summon. I know that is one of the important criteria listed, but what Eri though I don't know…. And now she is… she is dead!" she cried with tears running down her eyes. "I went out to look for you not long ago and found her lying dead at the bottom of the hill….Oh Kagome, I am so sorry!" she howled, "I am so sorry. What have I done!"

"Dead!" Kagome repeated and felt her heart grow heavy while her mind raced for an answer. "Kikyo, what did you do to her!" she said and glared furious at the grey woman who didn't seemed to be able to care any less.

"I have not caused any of your friends harm Kagome, in truth, I came quite recently and have not done much else beside of showing myself to them."

"But if it wasn't you, who…"

"Silly girl. When you try to summon the dead without even doing it properly…," she tilted her head and gave Yuka and Ayumi a stare that frightened them enough to halt their cries, "…many unfortunate things might follow. As I said, many were disturbed before I was awakened and something else must have passed through!"

Kagome couldn't sense any lies in what the older priestess said, not that she believed Kikyo ever would, or needed, to lie either. "So in other words, besides from you… we are not alone here?"

* * *

 **Please leave a review and tell me what you think, constructive critics are always welcome.**


	8. Chapter 8

**The invitation: Part eight**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha**

 _Last time:_

 _Kagome couldn't sense any lies in what the older priestess said, not that she believed Kikyo ever would, or needed, to lie either. "So in other words, besides from you… we are not alone here?"_

* * *

Kikyo gazed at Yuka and Auyumi who seemed to be on the verge of fainting after this new revelation.

"Not alone, by what do you mean…?" Yuka finally dared to say.

"I meant what I said," repeated the undead priestess with a cold glare.

"But you have no idea about what… and am I mistaken to assume that it will be up to us to find out?" Kagome asked rhetorically, already dreading for whatever was lurking in the darkness.

"This will be your fight, not mine. Deal with the problem as you chose."

"Alright then, I guess we have no other choice than prepare for fight. Yuka, do you have any kind of weapon in this house. I could really need one right now?"

Both girls looked at her with faces full of fear and disbelief, "Weapons! If there is a monster out there you can't fight it! We need to call the police or the army and hide until they come! Look at what happened to poor Eri!" Yuka sobbed and buried her face in her hands, weeping.

This time, Kagome looked with pity at her friends, she could hardly believe what Yuka said was true, that Eri had died out there tonight, probably alone and afraid at the hand of something neither of them knew what could be. However, if what Kikyo said was true and another creature came back from the dead, the beast would probably find them long before anyone else did. Besides, there was another reason why she felt so reluctant calling for outside help;

"I am afraid that waiting for the authorities is not an option, what do you think they will say if they hear it is a monster that lurks out there? What are you going to tell them?"

"We can say it is a mad-man with a gun, then they have to come armed!" Ayumi said, clenching her fists. "We.. we can't… abandon Eri out there!"

Kagome closed her eyes and took a deep breath to organize her thoughts. "Aymui, Yuka, please listen. If there truly is something out there, and it has killed Eri, then it most likely already know about this house and that we are here. Besides, the road is flooded, there is no way anyone will be able to come to rescue us before it is cleared. I say we stay indoors instead and wait until it the morning when we are able to see more. If Eri is dead, there is no more we can do for her am I afraid."

A sober silence followed and Kikyo's gaze which primarily was focused on Kagome became distant, "This is your world Kagome, what do you plan to do with the creature?"

"I will think of something," Kagome began and walked to Yuka and Ayumi to give her condolences when…

 ***Vvviiiiiiiiiiiikkkkkhhhh***

…. A sudden bone chilling shriek pierced through the air outside, startling everyone and made even Kikyo's eyebrows rise.

"Whatever it is, I think it is coming this way!" the dead priestess concluded and moved past the three girls to look outside the door with Kagome right behind, less scared of the decaying woman than her two friends.

Both Kagome and Kikyo stopped at the door opening while Yuka and Ayumi peeked frightful over Kagome's torn and muddy shoulder. "What in the world is that!" Ayumi gasped upon seeing the creature that was hurrying towards the veranda.

"That is the Mononoke who gave me a ride to get here, I am afraid that my car won't be driving anymore," Kagome answered.

"A Mononoke, but does that even exist?" Yuka replied upon seeing the elk-like being. "But does that mean it wasn't this who cried so frightful?"

"No, whatever it is, it is looking at us from the mist right now," Kikyo said, staring hard at an unseen being in the dark.

The Mononoke stamped with its feet and growled, looking at the same spot as Kikyo while backing against the veranda, allowing them to see the various features that set it apart from its mortal counterparts.

"Yuka!"

"Yes!"

"Do you have any weapons in your house?" Kagome said sharply, staring past the stamping beast. "Any kind, a bow, gun, sword, knife, anything we can use to defend our self?"

"But?"

"If you got anything then get it NOW!" Kagome cut in.

"Ayumi, come!" Yuka said, obeying purely out of fear and pulled her friend away from the door with a shaking hand. "Come and help me look through Grandpa's old stuff, I think he had something…" and then they ran up the stairs.

"Any idea what it could be Kikyo?"

"No, but I can sense evil, not the same kind of evil as Naraku, this is something sinister." She turned to Kagome with the faintest hint of a teasing smirk on her pale lips. "For once I am glad that I already am dead."

"Will you help?" Kagome asked older woman.

"I hold precious little power, as I am now I am barely more than dust clinging to rotting bones, don't count on me if you hope to save yourself and your friends." Having said so, a dark sigh wheezed past Kikyo's lips. "Tell me Kagome, have you and Inu Yasha married?"

"Yes, and we have built a house on the same spot my home and shrine will stand in the future…. In the presence I mean."

"Do you have any kids?"

"No… but we have Shippo and Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward and along with Sango and Miroku's children we have more than enough to do."

"I see, what about my sister?"

"Kaede is doing fine and she is training me to become a priestess, I have learned a lot from her and Miroku, when he keeps his hands to himself."

"Good, have you learned to fight with your power also, or are you still relying on the half demon's help whenever you are in need?"

"I am still learning but I am getting good at it!" Kagome snorted, placing her hands on her hips.

"Then let us hope for you and your friends' sake that you can handle whatever is coming tonight. I do not know how this world of yours work, but if you spoke the truth, no one will come to help you… or hear your scream if you fail."

"Ever heard about positive thinking!" Kagome said flat.

The ghastly wind blew from the forest, dragging along the dark mist in its wake which swallowed everything in its path towards the house, trees, stones, bushes and fence. But still there was nothing to be seen, not even the slightest trace of movements or sound that could betray a presence, even though Kagome knew beyond a doubt that every move and word she said were being watched. Only the faint noise from upstairs where Yuka and Ayumi were looking for a weapon, shattered the unnatural silence that had descended over the place.

Kagome squeezed her eyes to watch both to the left and right, the Mononoke was obviously nervous about the same as her and it seemed to be torn between running off into the impenetrable fog or stay at the house where it still was some sight left.

"Yuka? Ayumi? Do you find anything up there?" Kagome shouted into the hall.

"Still looking!" came a nervous reply.

The fog crept ever closer and still there was no sign to a creature, a sign in itself that was alarming Kagome thought. She was about to ask the Mononoke if it would come inside when a whirlpool-like swirl began to twist the fog… and a black shadow came creeping out. Her demonic steed grunted and growled, showing fangs as it began backing further away from them.

"Girls, there is something coming!" Kagome shouted and took up a position beside Kikyo's cadaverous form. The black silhouette seemed to hover just above the ground while it approached the house by flying threatening in zigzag over the lawn.

"Get inside. Now!" said Kikyo.

"Alright, RUN!" she shouted to the Mononoke who now was stamping wildly "Get away, it is us it is coming for!" The Mononoke didn't wait a second longer and ran with supernatural speed into the fog in the opposite direction just as Kagome pushed Kikyo inside and closed the door and the lock.

"Kikyo, don't just stand there, if you say you can't do anything, then go to the kitchen and get me a knife!"

"Hn" was her only vocal reply, but she went nevertheless.

Kagome hurried to look around herself, looking for anything she could use as a weapon or channel her powers through. She ended up grabbing an old walking stick of wood that Yuka's grandfather must have used and raised it up into the air, ready to strike.

Her breath almost froze when she heard the creaking sound of a sudden weight upon the wooden floorboards of the veranda;

*Creak…creack* groaned the wood, followed by the sound of something being dragged over the planks towards the door.

The world beyond herself and the door ceased to exist, the only thing in her mind centered around what she would face once the door opened. The grim sound came closer and closer until she heard it stop right outside the entrance, then the door handle began to be pressed down, very slowly as if the being were testing the device.

"Whoever you are, go away, you are not welcome here!" shouted Kagome and clenched the stick in her hands so hard that her knuckles turned white.

The door handle reached the bottom….

…but the door didn't open or bulge. It was still locked and Kagome watched silently as the pressure on the door handle gradually were released as it went up again. Not knowing what would come next, she didn't dare to breath….

" **AAAIIIIIIiiiiiikkkkk!"** Kagome's cry echoed through the house when she suddenly felt the touch of a cold, bony hand on her shoulder, she spun around with the empowered stick aiming to strike.

"Kikyo, what the hell do you think you are doing!" Kagome gasped, "I thought you were…. Oh the knife, thanks." The undead priestess held a large kitchen knife in her other hand and gave it to her.

"Kagome! Are you alright?" Two voices shouted simultaneously from upstairs.

"Yes, I am sorry, it was only Kikyo who startled me for a moment here."

"It is no longer there!"

"What do you mean Kikyo?"

"There is nothing outside the door."

"But…!?"

Kagome turned to look at the door, listening. But she didn't hear anything nor could she sense the eerie presence anymore either. "No, this isn't right," Kagome whispered, "It surely wouldn't have left already."

Kikyo's decaying head tilted. "This house, it has many rooms and windows, do all dwellings in the future have such luxury?"

"Dammit!" Kagome hissed and waved with the stick, "The backdoor!"

* * *

Yuka was franticly looking through every shelf, chest and closet for anything that could be used for protection. Cold sweat trickled down her face as she in her search threw everything out on the floor behind her. "Ayumi, have you found anything yet?"

"No, I thought you said your grandfather had something lying around from the war, but if he had, he must have hidden it well." Ayumi answered from another room. "But it would surely be easier to find something usable if we had light, I can hardly see what I am touching!"

"Damn, nothing here either," Yuka cursed and threw the last piece of fabric onto the floor. "Where could the old geezer have… Ayumi, I think I know." She suddenly said and ran over to the other woman. "Grandfather had an old chest in the attic where he said the old war trophies were stored away.

"The attic! You can't really mean that," Ayumi cried.

"Come on, I remember he showed me an old revolver when I was a little, it got to be there somewhere, hurry up!" she said bravely, but just the thought of walking up to the dreadful attic made her mind go numb. Things were already bad enough as it was.

Nevertheless, both of them found themselves at the bottom of the attic stairs a few second later, Ayumi covering right behind her back as they stared up at the foreboding darkness that engulfed the uppermost stairs.

"Here, I found this," Ayumi said and pulled forth a short stick which she gave to her, "It is a candle light I found together with a box of matches." The sharp sound of phosphorus against cardboard sulfur followed quickly as Ayumi lit the single match and set the burning tip against the top of the candle. The candle began to burn with a weak flame that didn't illuminate more than their faces.

"At least we will be able to see the difference between a pen and a gun with it," Ayumi said.

The old wooden stairs creaked under their feet as they braved themselves up to the lone door at the top, there they stopped. Yuka reached out her hand, pressed down the handle and the door swung slowly open, welcoming them to the oppressing darkness they feared so much.

Holding the lone candle light in front of her as some kind of protection, Yuka took the first step inside when Ayumi gave her a gentle push from behind. At each end of the large room, which the entire attic consisted of, was a single window, but almost no light shone through them because of the darkness outside. Her grandfather had fortunately kept things in order up here, so most of the stored stuff were lined up against the walls on each side, only the outline of a large chest vas faintly visible on the middle of the floor under one of the windows.

"There it is," Yuka whispered, clutched her friends' hand and walked slowly towards the chest. She didn't dare looking around because she feared that if she did, her imagination would conjure every scene from her worst nightmares along the walls, instead she trusted that Ayumi would do the looking for her.

After what felt like an eternity, they could stop and kneel before their goal, Yuka gave Ayumi the candle while she took hold on the lid and pulled it open, revealing a great amount of dust that made the candle light flicker. Then they both leaned over it and began searching through the various objects; old pictures, a dairy, bullets! clothes and more clothes, tin-boxes and a WWI uniform. Ayumi pushed the uniform aside and revealed a long metallic object underneath.

"A sword?" she said.

"Yes, the army men were equipped with regular sword-bayonets during both world wars, even though the westerners stopped using them after the first war. Those were attached at the mouthpiece of a rifle and could be used to stab the enemy in the belly if they came close enough."

"Gross!" said Ayumi and held it up to look closer. "It is full of rust."

"Yeah, bad quality… but why can't I find the damn gun!" Yuka complained shivering. "It should be here, maybe it is hidden another place." She was going to say more when a dump sound suddenly made both turn to look behind.

"Did you hear it?" Yuka whispered.

"It could be Kagome; she is watching the front door and any sound from there will sound just like that up here."

"Yes, but perhaps we should go and ask if she has seen anything yet, we have already waisted precious time without finding anything. Let's go to the door again."

Ayumi nodded in the faint light and both rose to walk to the door, but the closer they came, the more they thought they were able to see of their surroundings. The mist was slowly getting thinner on the outside, allowing a faint light to shine through the old windows, but this wasn't an improvement in the women's' opinion. Numerous object they so far had been unable to see came to light as shadowy figures, but one object in particular made a cold chill run down Yuka's spine.

Sitting on a chair close to the door as if guarding it was sat an old doll, and to Yuka's eternal horror it wasn't any doll but a clown! The thing was as big as a small child and clad in white and red circus dress with full makeup on its face. Because of the darkness when they came, they had walked past the doll without noticing it sitting there staring back at them, and just as silently had it been watching their backs when they roamed through the chest.

"Geeze, what a scary old clown!" Yuka heard Ayumi said and walked up to it, still holding the sword in her hand.

Yuka followed right after and clutched her arm, "Please let us go."

Ayumi however, reached out with the sword and let the tip of it hover in the air before the clown's grinning face. All was silent for a split second before Yuka saw a tiny smile appear on Ayumi's face.

"It is only a doll," she whispered and crouched down in front of it. "We shouldn't let us be scared," Ayumi turned her head slowly to look back at her. But Ayumi had barely done so before she saw her eyes turn away from her and stare… at something behind her!

Her stomach tightened and twisted while her breath turned into a rasping whisper as a she stared at Ayumi's panicking face, the woman's mouth began to open as if she tried to say something, but not a word came out as tremors took over her body.

Yuka turned around, very slowly.

Sitting up from the chest they just had left, illuminated by the window, clad in a torn and ragged old uniform full of blood and mud, stared a grim skeleton back at them. Its right hand was outstretched and pointed towards them… with the gun!

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 **Thank you for being so patient with my progress, and if you enjoyed this chapter then please leave a comment and tell me what you think^^**


	9. Chapter 9

**The invitation: Part nine**

 **Sorry for taking so long this time as well, but the Halloween story is now finally finished.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha.**

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Time stood still as they stared at the impossible sight. The aged skeleton grinned back at them with a horrible smile and the deadly weapon ready to fire, neither Yuka nor Ayumi could find the will to move at all, but a tiny shift in the dreadful arm signalized that one of them would be shot within the next moment.

Suddenly and without warning came an explosion of sounds, Yuka found herself jerked away and thrown sideways into Ayumi, making both of them tumble onto the floor. The gun had been fired, but Yuka didn't feel any scorching pain, nor did Ayumi seemed to be hit from the way she tried to roll out of the way.

"Don't you dare attacking my friends!" shouted a woman's voice, making Yuka scrambled fast back on her feet to look for their savior. Half emerged from the hatch leading up to the attic, and with a bleeding body upon the floor, was Kagome.

Kagome stared at her friends while a white-hot pain shot through her arm. "Kagome, you are hurt!" she heard Ayumi scream and saw a red stain that rapidly spread on her shirt's upper arm.

"I can feel that!" Kagome hissed through her teeth and clutched her wound. "You two, get back down here before you are shot!" she screamed and turned her head to look at the grinning skeleton.

The uniformed corpse took aim for another shot, but this time, both Yuka and Ayumi was faster and dived down the hatch, head first past Kagome with no second thoughts of how painful it would be when colliding with the floor below.

Kagome cringed when she heard the unavoidable sound, but it was accompanied by another pained scream from Kikyo. Worried for her friends, she turned her head just enough to see that they both had landed more or less on the top of the undead woman which involuntarily must had dampened their fall.

"Who the hell are you and what do you fucking want!?" Kagome spat, using a couple of her husband's favorite phrases. The wound on her arm pounded and hurt like hell, but Kagome counted herself as lucky since her bone hadn't shattered.

The skeleton pointed its war gun at her and Kagome's mind screed that she should fall back through the hatch for safety, her instincts however, had other plans. Using her other arm, she jumped up to the attic floor and rolled around and behind a large trunk. Another shot was fired and she heard the wooden floor crunch just centimeters away. The darkness prevented her from seeing most of the surroundings, but she grabbed the first object she found and flung it over her head towards the skeleton. A loud smash told her the object must had been a vase.

Then, nothing more happened!

No more shouts and no clattering sounds of bones to betray the otherworldly presence. Kagome thought suddenly that her breathings sounded terrible loud, because she couldn't hear her friends anymore. Unfortunately did her renewed sense of attention make her aware of how much her wound actually hurt. Warm blood continued oozing through her open wound and made it hard to focus, pain however wasn't anything foreign to her and Kagome clenched her teeth and peeked around the corner of the trunk.

The skeleton was gone and only the open chest was still on the floor, dimly lit by the bluish light from the moon outside. A could foreboding feeling swept through her.

" _Where is it?"_ she though while her eyes feverishly went from side to side.

"KAGOME, are you okay?" she heard Ayumi yell from downstairs, but she didn't dear answering in fear of making it betray her location.

Along the wall, only a meter in height before the roof's slope reached the floor, had numerous crates, boxes and other junk been lined up. Kagome grabbed another object and hurled it in the opposite direction, directing every attention towards it when the thing hit the floor while she simultaneously jumped out to hide behind the crates. She dived down and quickly began to crawl towards the chest while the object still clattered.

With her pulse galloping like a wild horse, Kagome approached the chest from the side and the knife she had tucked away in a pocked were drawn. The smell of old dust and mold ravaged her nose as she crouched down to ready herself for her next move of which she couldn't predict the outcome of. Then, she sprang forwards to the side of the chest, grasped the lid and closed the lid with a loud crack that echoed through the attic. Changing her position swiftly she grabbed the bottom of the chest and hurled it forwards such that the heavy thing landed with a bang on its front and all of its content fell out and spread across the floor.

Books, bullets, maps, clothes, a horn and many other objects littered the wooden planks, but no skeleton, and a quick look told her that there were no animated bones on the inside either.

"Fuck, where did it go?" Kagome asked out loud, and was heard by two worried women.

"What do you mean by gone. Did it disappear?" Yuka's frightened voice asked.

"It isn't in the chest anymore, and I can't see it!"

"Kagome come back down with us again, please!" Yuka begged.

The creature was obviously not in the chest, but where could it have gone? Kagome had to suppress the thought of rejoining her friends, no matter how tempting it was. The adrenaline pumping through her was effective in keeping the worst of her pain at bay now, but it wouldn't last long and then it would become an even bigger challenge protecting Yuka and Ayumi. Nevertheless though, Kagome began to walk slowly towards the opening in the floor while trying to look for anything unnatural watching from the darkness.

Of course, it was at this moment that a cloud decided to cover the moon and plunge the entire attic into almost complete darkness.

"Nonono!" Kagome gasped and waved with her good arm in order to avoid any harmful collision, her other arm was rapidly losing both strength and blood and hang useless against her side and would be of no help if she was attacked.

"Hey guys, I can't see anything up here, can you please speak to me so I don't fall through the hatch?"

"Of course, over here!" she heard Ayumi say. "But be careful, I can hardly see a hand in front of me, it is like somebody pulled down the dropdown!"

"Alright, keep talking so I can find you!"

"Just stay where you are and I will walk up the stairs and take your hand!" Yuka added, followed by the creaking sound of feet stepping up the ladder.

"Yuka, don't come up, I will find you!" Kagome hissed, dizzy in her head from the pain and blood loss. She waved her hand and grabbed the fabric of Yuka's clothes. "Listen, I said…."

"I don't care what you said!" Yuka replied stern…

…from behind!

A cold, shocking feeling spread through her body, freezing her breath until the point where Kagome barely was able to breath at all. Her eyes started following the faint outline of her arm to see what she was grasping, and just then did the moon chose to reappear, illuminating the eerie face of a huge clown-doll. A clown with wickedly sharp teeth!

" **Aaaarrgghhhh!"**

The clown's grin stretched sadistically wide until it went from ear to ear. Kagome's scream startled Yuka that much that she heard her trip backwards and fall down the ladder. But she had no time to see how it went with the poor woman before the ghastly creature lifted its arms and grasped the fabric of _her_ shirt! It's china-white face and black eyes seemed to try to bore a hole through her soul, making her feel like a prey caught by a hungry predator. Kagome screamed again when it opened its mouth and yanked her towards it for a bite, and it was by sheer luck that she at the very last moment remembered her knife! She released her own grip on the doll, grasped her knife and swung it in front of herself, slicing through the arms that held her. The grip loosened and Kagome immediately stumbled back to catch her breath, blood, blacker than ink and thicker than oil, flooded from the wound she had inflicted on the doll, but it wasn't finished yet.

With its jaws opening impossible wide, it lunged forwards, making Kagome stumble backwards once more, only to trip on something and fall on her back. White-hot pain shot through her bleeding arm when she instinctively used it to breach her fall. Kagome howled and immediately clenched her wound while trying to keep focus on the grinning predator was only a few steps from her now.

Maybe it was a natural protection unconsciously provided her holy powers, or maybe it was the final results from years of fighting at Inu Yasha's side; but it made Kagome remove her hand from the bleeding wound, and drenched in blood, Kagome flung it forwards, hurling streams of blood towards the vile creature and shouted "Jõka suru!"

Surprise was written on her face when the blood turned into deadly projectiles that pierced the doll, stopping it as if it had been a living body under the red and white clothes. The clown fell backwards and hit the floor to the sound of crunching china, and for a short moment, all Kagome could do was to stare at her wounded arm from which warm blood trickled. "Keh, it seems that Inu yasha is rubbing off on me more than I thought! Hey Yuka, are you okay?" she said after the first shock had settled and the pain in her arm was back with full force.

She clenched her wound again, trying to put as much pressure on it to stagger her blood loss while she walked backwards down the stairs. Bellow was Ayumi helping Yuka back on her feet, away from Kikyo who lay on the floor with one of her arms pointing in an unnatural position. "Are you okay guys?" Kagome groaned.

"No! My body hurts", Yuka said. "Mine too, all over!" Ayumi sobbed with fast forming bluish spots on her face. "What about you Kikyo?" Kagome asked, seeing that the woman tried to get back up as well.

"I think most of my ribs are cracked and my arm…" she didn't say more, but held up her left arm which lower part was bent backwards in the wrong direction from her elbow. "I guess being dead comes with a few advantages, this hurts far less than I think it should have." Kikyo said emotionless, staring scrutinizing at her arm.

The smell of iron began to fill the air, making all of them turn to look at Kagome's wound. "Good for you then!" Kagome wheezed and clutched harder, "Maybe you also have a first aid kit here, I could need some help with my arm right now!"

Ayumi guided them to the living-room where the kit was stored and started wrapping her arm in a thick and clumsy layer of bandage. Kagome let herself sink to the floor, not finding the strength to stand anymore. She was sure she could speed up her own heeling, but right now she didn't know if she could muster enough power to do it, she just hoped her wound wouldn't become infected with something bad before it healed.

After having wrapped up her wound and stopped the bleeding, everything had turned deathly still, and yet Kagome was almost certain it was the intense throbbing of her friends' hearts that pierced the darkness, although it was probably more imagination to it than actual sound. Or maybe it was her own heart that was racing? Slowly and on shivering legs, Kagome got herself up from the floor and walked to a window while keeping her senses on high alert in case something else laid and waited in the dark. The pain in her arm was still terrible and the stale smell of blood and iron would undoubtedly make her an easy target for anyone with a sense of smell that was half of a human's, but there was nothing there. Kagome forced herself to ignore the pain and let her holy powers search the room, and then the house for whatever evil presence that might be left, but beside of Yuka and Ayumi's human signature, only Kikyo's aura of death and decay stood out. Then, after she had ensured herself that nothing else was left within the building, Kagome spread her search to the immediate surrounding forest. Only death and…, Kagome's eyebrows rose significant and she spun around to look at her friends.

"Ayumi, Yuka, are you alright?" It was hard to see them at first, but the faint light from the window allowed her to spot both women standing close to each other against a wall in the dark, Yuka ready with a fire iron in her hand and Ayumi with a knife. Kikyo stood at the other side of the room like a shadow whose silhouette was the only evidence of her presence.

"We are fine," Ayumi answered, keeping her voice low. "What about you? And what happened to the monster up there?"

Kagome took a deep breath, "It is gone! It won't come again."

"Really? How can you be sure it is gone?" Ayumi said.

"And do you know it in the first place, what if something suddenly jumps out of the shadows?" Yuka asked.

Kagome turned to Kikyo's shadow. "Do you plan to jump out Kikyo?" she asked sardonically.

"No, I don't" came a surprisingly amused reply. "Nor can I sense other entities with malevolent anywhere, it seems you actually managed to get rid of it."

"It seems so," Kagome sighed and clutched her arm. "But Yuka or Ayumi, please tell me, do you have an idea of how you managed to summon someone dead in the first place? I hardly doubt that any of you are a necromancer!"

Both women looked at each other, "No, not the faintest idea, but grandpa claimed that he really could speak with the dead when he used that Ouija board of his. I don't know how or why, but somehow, something did happen!" Yuka said and looked at the table with the game now lay safely hidden inside its box. "Do you think you will be able to figure it out?"

Kagome went over to the table, Kikyo, Yuka and Ayumi came also, trying to see in board and pieces in the dark as Kagome carefully unwrapped the items.

"Here, maybe this will help," Ayumi said and pulled forth a short candle stick which the managed to lit. It was strange how comforting and calming the tiny flame had on them, and despite its weak, yellow light, it was enough to let Kagome examine the accursed game before them. Piece by piece, she went through everything, reading every sign and script until she at last let her gaze fall upon the tiny, black bag. Without untying it, she took it up and held the bag in her hand while letting her fingers carefully rub against the fabric.

"Kikyo, do you know what's inside?" Kagome said ominously.

"It is impossible, but I can feel it now as you mention it!" Kikyo replied, following Kagome's action closely when she finally untied the bag and turned it upside down to let its single content fall into her palm.

"That is grandfather's lucky charm, he always used it when he played," said Yuka while Kagome held it up against the candle light.

"A shikon fragment!" Kagome whispered. "So tiny it is. I have never seen any pieces this small!"

"Didn't you manage to get rid of the whole thing?" said the undead woman beside her, not sounding pleased at all.

"We did! The jewel was entirely whole, I don't understand this either." Then she turned to her friends. "I am afraid I will have to confiscate this; it is too dangerous for people to handle, your grandfather was unbelievable lucky to get away with what he did Yuka. This could have happened every time he used the shard, and the outcome could have been far worse. You broke the rules and released something that shouldn't be in this world."

Yuka watched the microscopic piece of crystal with a mixture of disbelief and anger. "Then just take it! I am so finished with this whole thing and I will gladly burn the hellish game to ashes and dump the remains into the sea as soon as I can. I am never ever going to do anything with the dead again!"

"Speaking of the dead!" Kagome suddenly said and noticed that Kikyo suddenly had left their company, having walked to the window to watch something outside. The night was still dark, and only the moon's dim light gave enough light for the forests' jagged outline to be seen, but through a break of the trees, a ghostly pale sight became visible. Kagome walked silently up to Kikyo's side. The dark, rotting flesh, stiff tendons and boney body was a stark contrast to the priestess' former beauty. Somehow, Kikyo must have divined her thoughts, because she suddenly said, "To think that _someone_ we know, once thought we looked so similar that he mistook you for me. I wonder if he still would do so…"

"Tell me Kikyo, have your sense of humor always been rotten, or is it just your poor attempt at being philosophical?" Kagome snorted.

Kikyo twisted her neck slowly, turning her horrible gaze at Kagome. "Remember that as you are now so once was I. As I am now, you shall be!"

"Creep! Thanks for reminding me…" Kagome said darkly as the pale light outside the window came closer.

"I..iis th.. that a ghost?" stuttered a wide-eyed Ayumi and grasped Yuka's hand, making Kagome and Kikyo turn their attention back to the room's other occupants.

"It is..," Kagome began, somewhat hesitating, "Well, it is almost.. sort of, but I think this one is for me!" she said, and before anyone could respond, she marched out of the room without further explanation. She went through the hall and into the gloomy garden where a single soul stealer greeted her. Between the eel-like creature's six insect-legs, shone a swirling orb of white, illuminating the nearest surroundings in an eerie light.

"Please, show me where you found it!" Kagome said. The soul stealer who probably had expected Kikyo, seemed to obey her nevertheless, because just as the priestess herself and her friends caught up with her, it began to fly towards the fogbound forest.

So, with two frightened girls and a curious Kikyo close behind, Kagome began following the ghostly soul stealer into the mist. "You don't have to follow you now, it is safe if you rather want to stay and wait for me inside the house," said Kagome and looked at her two friends who seemed to be on the verge of hysteria. "I can assure you it is safe now, the demon is no more."

"I…I will rather stick with you Ka.. Kagome, just in case." Yuka stuttered while Ayumi, who clung to her shoulder, nodded in agreement.

"Alright then, but I can't guarantee what you will see if you follow."

"I think I have seen enough for a lifetime, and if I am going to see anything more alone now, I don't think I ever will wake up again." Yuka shuddered while looking at the walking corpse whom they previously had mistaken for being Kagome.

The fog closed around them, leaving it hard to see more than the closest trees, but Kagome kept a steady pace after the flying death demon, down the watery slope, over fallen trees and through dense vegetation until they suddenly found themselves staring at the faint outline of a person which was half hidden by a bush.

"Thh.. there she is!" Yuka whispered, but Kagome didn't need to be told, she had already recognized the dead face in front of her, despite being years since last time she saw it.

Kagome walked up to Eri and crouched down in front of her head. Her dead eyes were still open and staring unmovable at the dark canopies above. "You poor thing," she began and laid her hands under the corps' head. "This must have hurt an awful lot. Here, let me help you out from the thorns." The bush rustled and squeaked, reluctant to release its grip on the corpse, but Kagome managed to pull it out, whereupon everyone could see the horrible wounds on Eri's tattered body.

Ayumi and Yuka who began to sob quietly, they had until now done their best to keep some distance between them and the ancient priestess, but neither could find the strength to move when she approached them this time. They were still frightened by the older woman though and Kagome could understand them well, if it had been herself who had learned about the existence of ghosts and demons in such a horrific way, she might not have been better off herself.

Kagome gave her friends a sad smile before addressing the dead girl in her arms. "I am sorry we had to meet again during circumstances like this, you must have been scared… and I know you hate being seen ragged and dirty when meeting old friends, but maybe you will excuse our presence this time." Her only answer though was Ayumi and Yuka's continuously sobs, Eri herself was silent.

Shutting out the eerie world around her, Kagome called forth her holy powers which slowly began to warm and fill her freezing body. She had long since learned how to heal most kind of wounds, and with her strength and future knowledge she had surpassed all priestess in that regard, but bringing the dead back to life was a gift that not had been given her. Instead she poured all her reminding might into healing the dead and broken body to the point where even Ayumi and Yuka could see how Eri's wounds and twisted limbs healed before their very eyes.

Kagome continued until she couldn't detect anything damaged or wrong with Eri, expect from her being dead though. Then she opened her eyes to look at her work.

"Wh..what did you do?" an astounded Yuka gasped. "You glowed like a firefly! Was that magic you did?"

Ayumi was utterly speechless, but Kikyo wasn't and spoke with her emotionless voice. "Your friend looks pretty again, but it doesn't change the fact that she still is dead, you only healed her wounds. Is this what you here came for? Or have you somehow come in the possession of the Tenseiga?"

"No…, but I do have her soul!" Kagome answered and waved a hand, a gesture which made the soul stealer descend from the canopies and circle down to Kagome.

"What!?" came two surprised gasps from behind and even Kikyo seemed genuinely curious.

Kagome looked softly at her friends, not being entirely certain if they were able to see the soul-carrying creatures or not. "Please, let this will work," she whispered and took the shimmering soul from between its legs. Kagome had never touched a soul before, but the ethereal sphere felt neither warm nor cold in her hand, her physical body and sensed didn't feel anything at all actually. With the sole exception of her sight, the only thing that was aware of Eri's soul was her own which sang out in resonance to the bodiless entity. It was a strange feeling, but Kagome didn't linger for long before she turned her hand upside-down and pressed the soul against Eri's chest.

A few agonizing seconds passed by without anything happening. But then, ever so slowly at first, and then faster, the soul began to sink inside the body. And so, for the first time in uncounted years, a gasp of surprise escaped Kikyo's lips as she witnessed a shining glow spread through the corpse, even Yuka and Ayumi had to stifle their sobs while they stared in awe as the girl on Kagome's lap began to shine like a star.

The ethereal light illuminated the entire area for a few seconds before the most amazing thing happened: Between Kagome's arms, Eri began to stir!

Yuka and Ayumi who hardly could believe their eyes, rushed to Kagome and Eri to kneel by their side.

"Oh Eri, I am so glad so see you alive again!" Yuka howled while shedding tears, but this time in joy.

"Me too, I have been so afraid. I though we never would see you again!" said Ayumi who wrapped her arms around the confused girl and hugged her tight.

"Whatever do you mean? I am perfectly fine, just feeling a bit stiff in my neck. But that is hardly a wound," Eri said while trying to regain her senses. "But where the heck am I and….

Kagome smiled and released Eri, letting the confused girl look around herself, a task that was made difficult by Yuka and Ayumi who both compete in hugging and touching her.

"…Kagome! So you finally showed up!" Eri continued. "I was wondering whether you would show up tonight. But what took you so long, where are we and who is she?" she said upon discovering Kikyo.

"This…" Kagome began and approached the ill looking priestess. "Is Kikyo, and she is about to leave."

"I am?" the stoic woman said and stared at her reincarnation. "How so?"

Kagome didn't answer her, but walked up close to her until they were face to face. Thereafter she let her fingers gently stroke the decaying skin on Kikyo's face. Their eyes were locked on each other while Eri, Yuka and Ayumi watched with scandalously curiosity as she sensually caressed the woman's skin. She opened her mouth, grasped the base of Kikyo's head and pressed her forward till their lips met in a kiss, receiving a simultaneous gasp from the three girls behind. The kiss felt surprisingly good and way more passionate than she had intended, but making out with her dead, previous self wasn't in her intention, and within Kikyo's eyes she could see that the priestess had understood what she would do. Fortunately, she also seemed to accept it and didn't resist when Kagome began to pull out of her the faint trace of her soul that somehow involuntarily bound Kikyo to the living world.

The visible result of her action didn't go unnoticed by the trio who's gasp soon turned into a shriek of horror when Kikyo suddenly began to crack. Her name was uttered by Eri in stuttering fright, but Kagome kept pulling, still with her lips attached to Kikyo's until her entire body crumbled into bones, earth and dust at her feet.

At the end she was left standing with only Kikyo's grinning skull in her hand.

Kagome couldn't help herself but stare at the grim object and chuckled, "I never thought I would see you smile, being dead or alive, but in the end you had me wrong, I just didn't think I had to get under your skin and beyond that to see it…!"

And just as the first trace of morning light pierced the fog, Kagome turned to her friends with a sadistic smile creeping up on her lips. "What a night, who is up for breakfast?"

End.

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 **Please review and tell me what you think^^**


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